I want to dedicate this blog post to thanking my amazing team of student research assistants and highlighting their accomplishments! Our team got a lot of research done, and my students learned a lot of new techniques: cloning, electrophysiology, and cell culture. I also learned a lot about myself as a leader (teaching and managing 6 students 5 days a week was like leadership bootcamp lol).

I’m very proud of all my students! I take my job as a mentor seriously, and regardless of their career goals, I want them to be able to call themselves scientists.

Isthiak, Nirali, Catherine, myself, Megan, Cameon, and Mikey oustide the USC School of Pharmacy buliding. This was the last day we were all in lab together, so I decided to take everyone out to lunch at the fancy medicine-themed restaurant on the US… — Isthiak, Nirali, Catherine, myself, Megan, Cameon, and Mikey oustide the USC School of Pharmacy buliding. This was the last day we were all in lab together, so I decided to take everyone out to lunch at the fancy medicine-themed restaurant on the USC Health Science Campus.

Bravo Medical Magnet High school students

Ishtiak and Wilson, the stuffed oocyte I use to teach students about electrophysiology and DNA/RNA injections. For the longest time I thought Ish put that mouth on Wilson. I added the eyes (one fell out) and bow-tie. Farewell pictures with Wilson ar… — Ishtiak and Wilson, the stuffed oocyte I use to teach students about electrophysiology and DNA/RNA injections. For the longest time I thought Ish put that mouth on Wilson. I added the eyes (one fell out) and bow-tie. Farewell pictures with Wilson are kind of mandatory.

Congratulations to my high school student research assistant Ishtiak on graduating from high school and getting accepted to UCSD! Ishtiak worked in lab since May 2018 and won 1st place in the Bravo Medical Magnet High School science fair! Towards the end of his time in lab, he found out that he really enjoyed the microbiology side of things (cloning/transforming bacteria). Joining our lab this summer was Nirali! Both Nirali and Ishtiak worked full time in lab for two months.

Undergraduate Research Fellow

MIkey was a wonderful addition to lab and totally committed to the project: he commuted several hours to lab each day, and wouldn’t hesitate to stay late if need be.

Another new addition to lab was Michael Bloomfield, who earned a summer undergraduate research fellowship (SURF) from the USC School of Pharmacy. Mikey spent the summer in lab with me learning electrophysiology and molecular biology. Mikey’s previous research experience was in a mitochondria respiration/cancer biology lab, and for the summer, he wanted to learn how drugs are discovered and developed. In the upcoming semester, he’ll be applying to pharmacy school. Good luck Mikey!

Provost Fellow

Megan joined our lab back in the spring of 2018 and was the most senior undergraduate on our team. I was always surprised at all the extra-curricular activities Megan was involved in, while still finding time to study and work in the lab.

Megan Ryu earned a provost fellowship this summer (and last fall and spring). Megan, along with Ed and Alex, won an award in the Spring of 2019 during the undergraduate research symposium. Megan will be studying abroad in Spain this semester and plans on applying for a full bright scholarship. She also plans on applying for Medical School in the upcoming year. Good luck Megan!

Research Presentation

Catherine and Cameron presenting at the 2019 Moving Targets symposium! They both worked really hard on the poster and on their presentation skills, and it definitely showed. Good job!

Congratulations to Cameron Chu and Catherine Yi on presenting at the Moving Targets 2019 symposium! Cameron and Catherine joined lab back in April, and very quickly mastered two-electrode voltage clamp electrophysiology. I asked my team if they wanted to present the summer’s research at the annual Moving Targets symposium, which is open to all students, but primarily geared toward graduate students. Everyone was interested, but unfortunately, the summer was ending, and most students had other responsibilities. Catherine and Cameron eagerly stepped up and presented all our hard work admirably!