Peddie EXP Summer 2018

(Disclaimer: this is a little random, but I wanted to put some of my thoughts down on paper (or computer I guess)) Dinosaurs. Their mysterious awe, their primordial existence, their electric lure. I was enchanted by them--almost mythical creatures--throughout my early childhood. The Allosaurus and Brachiosaurus replaced my quintessential girl fascination for dolls. The concept of what had existed before man striked me in a manner brushing Barbie’s hair never could. By kindergarten, I had the narration for dinosaur documentaries memorized, and in first grade I proudly presented my ostentatious collection of fossils to my class in “Show and Tell”...each week (my snowglobe collection didn’t draw as much interest). I spent my afternoons sifting through the forest floor for the imprint of an ancient plant on the face of a stone, deer bones, and arrowheads. This was my gateway to science. I wanted evidence of the past, but even more so, I craved discovery. Too naive to comprehend th...

Time really flew by! I'm wrapping up my work here in the lab. I'll miss everything about this summer so much--even washing and rinsing my membrane six times before imaging! These past few weeks have been very productive. I've worked on a lot of Western blots, gave more presentations at our lab meetings, and presented my final poster alongside Blake. Its been super busy and exciting, its sad that it has to come to an end. I'll include some random bits and pieces from recently: Preston took me to image some organoids on the microscope. The pictures are really cool. Its interesting to see the diversity of organoids from cells of the same sort. Basal and luminal-derived organoids have different morphologies as well, which is pretty awesome. Its amazing how these three dimensional tissue models can retain their identities in culture like this. Luminal-derived organoid I also learned how to quantify my Western blot data. The images obtained from performing Western b...

These past two weeks have been amazing (and hectic)! My Time in the Lab: I am beyond grateful for everyone in my lab—they are all so helpful and it is truly a blessing to have so many great mentors! This first month in the lab has been an eye-opening experience for me on so many different levels. Immersing myself into the “real world” of science through research has not only confirmed my passion for cellular biology but has also furthered it. I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in exciting and ground-breaking cancer and metabolism research! In my third week, I gave my first lab presentation in front of Dr. Goldstein, Preston, Johnny, Blake, and Ana. I was a little nervous because I didn’t want to present any of Preston’s and my results incorrectly, but I felt that discussing our work with everyone made me more confident in my role in the lab and honed my presentation skills. Dr. Goldstein emphasizes the importance of being a strong presenter in researc...

We started off our week with a congratulatory acai bowl trip to celebrate Preston’s acceptance into a training grant program. Acai bowls in California top Playa Bowls (no question about it). From what I can tell, its a pretty huge honor to be recognized by this grant, but he’s really humble about it. On Monday, Preston and I decided that testing antibodies that have never been tested on prostate epithelial cells before would be a good objective for my first Western blot on my own. We needed to probe for ASCT2, a glutamine transporter, and GLS in order to determine if their corresponding antibodies are functional. Antibodies are crucial for Western blots because they bind to the protein of interest (POI), allowing for us to qualify its expression after imaging. As such, Preston wanted to make sure they worked by probing for ASCT2 and GLS on three different cell lines. Cell lines are commercially purchased human cells that have been immortalized (modified to grow indefinitely) by telome...

I’m about to wrap up my first week in the lab and I learned that Californians do in fact use the word “gnarly” as much as one would think. The graduate student's paper! View from the lab My lab is located on the UCLA campus right next to Westwood, which is a great spot to grab food or go shopping (basically I’m in my happy place). And everything here in Los Angeles is vegan! Even my PI! I was a little bit worried that I’d be living off Clif Bars for lunch, but the students in my lab are so welcoming and friendly that I have been blowing through my allowance easily by going out to eat almost twice a day, everyday so far. I feel so at home in my lab--the people are amazing, the location is great (and sunny), and the science is incredible. Before starting my internship I was a little concerned that I would be placed in a corner to pipette from 9-5, but I got more than I could ever hope for. The graduate student whom I am shadowing, Preston, explains everything in so...