This week was supposed to be the last official week of summer research (as per the UH academic calendar); however, I am so pleased with my experience in Dr. McConnell's lab that we both agreed to continue my position in his lab throughout the fall and spring semesters (at reduced hours and reduced days, of course). This is important to me because I want to apply and continue what I have learned during this internship to my own independent research project (and perhaps honors thesis) in the future. I feel as if the skills and technique I have picked up during this experience are extremely invaluable to any lab setting I may encounter, whether it be a course-required lab or a lab used in the institutional setting. One thing I really enjoyed learning was the actual practice of asceptic technique in a laminar flow hood, something that my supplemental studies indicated was extremely important in the pharmacy setting. My graduate student mentor will still be working towards her Ph.D. and the rest of the research team will still be continuing their experiments by the time the fall semester kicks up, so I will be stopping by to help them with the same things I have learned this summer.
For the next few work-days, I will be helping one of the members of the research team with running cAMP and PKA (with PKI) assays. This will be used to determine cAMP (cyclic AMP) levels in our tissues of interest.
My graduate student mentor has also been showing me her technique for calcium imaging to measure the intercellular calcium release in our cells of interest.
The lab has been quite hectic because we are within weeks of revising and submitting over six papers for publication. Despite this though, it is the unity that comes about in times like this that never ceases to make me proud that I am a part of such a hard-working lab.
Thank you to my Tier One Scholarship, the University of Houston, and Dr. McConnell for this amazing opportunity!
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