This year I worked as a lab assistant at the Salem Laboratory in the animal science and aviation department here at the University of Maryland. The main focus of this lab is aquaculture, looking at how we can help fish farmers produce higher quality fish, with better color, muscle size, and overall health. We mainly look at two breeds of fish in this lab, Rainbow Trout and Tilapia as well as chickens on occasion. Several different projects are going on in the lab at once so my role was to help out on whichever project needed help. This allowed me to get a wide range of experience learning different lab techniques.
In the first semester working at the lab I was mainly doing DNA extractions of rainbow trout fecal samples. This process required following a lengthy procedure, precise pipetting, and the making and running of an electrophoresis gel. The purpose of the gel was to help identify the quality of the DNA isolated. When I first started the lab most of my gels had turned out barely visible, an indication of poorly extracted DNA. As I worked longer I noticed major improvements in the quality and quantity of my extractions which helped me see the progress and improvement of my lab skills. Another major part of my job was the preparation of samples as well as the storage of them. To prepare samples for extraction sterility is a major factor to ensure no cross-contamination. I learned proper sterilization techniques of tools using ethanol to keep the tools and workspace clean.
After working for a semester and having found my flow in the lab, my graduate advisor had me help out in his project identifying the causes of wooden breast syndrome in chickens. To identify this we have to extract and run a PCR on the samples so they can be sequenced by another laboratory. To run a PCR test you have to identify the ideal conditions for the primer being used. This requires a lot of trial and error to identify the best results. In addition, each PCR run takes around 2 hours meaning it took around 3 weeks until we found the ideal conditions. This was an important learning experience for me teaching me both patience and the time-consuming nature of research. While frustrating, finally identifying the working conditions made all the hard work worth it. We have since sent the samples to be sequenced and are waiting on the results for further analysis.
Working in this lab has been an eye-opening experience teaching me the broad scope of research as well as allowing me to explore new interests. When looking for a lab I had it in my mind that I wanted to do some research in the field of genetics so I went to the UMD website and looked for any labs that did genetic work and emailed the professors inquiring about their lab. I sent ten emails before Dr. Salem, the head of my lab, reached out to me offering me a position. Aquaculture had never been an interest of mine and I had a hard time seeing the larger implications of the research. However, after working there for a year I have learned to appreciate the work we do and its broad scope of benefits. By improving the quality and productivity of fish farmers, they will be able to produce more and larger fish in the same space. This gives the potential for more food production at the same scale as well and improves the revenue the farmers can get per fish. This has shown me that even research that doesn't focus on curing diseases can have a major positive impact on thousands of people and that there are so many different ways you can make an impact. Working in this lab has only reinforced my passion and interest in research and in the future, I hope to run a lab that can help improve the lives of many whatever the subject may be.