Hello,
I hope all of you had a great summer. My name is Julia T.
Garcia. I spent my summer doing research in Dr. Howard Chang Lab at Stanford
University School of Medicine as part of the HHMI-EXROP/SSRP program. Since the
first week in the program, I learnt different things. I was working on two
different projects. My main project was on long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs).
Specifically, I was working on the identification of lncRNAs candiadates
important for the regulation of 3D chromosome architecture, which is crucial
for gene regulation. This identification was done by RNA Immunoprecipitation
sequencing (RIP-seq). The other project was focused on knocking down
a protein in mouse embryonic steam cells (mESC). The project and techniques
were very interesting. This was my first time in a lab with 20 people, which
gave the opportunity to experience the dynamics of a bigger lab. Every week
during lab meetings, I had to present the progress of my project like everybody
else; this kept me top of the research.
As part of the program, we have different assignments and
weekly meetings to discuss scientific research and how to do presentations. Also
every week we have workshops with different guest speaker that talk about their
research, research in general, professional development and graduate school.
We also did recreational activities like going scavenger
hunting in San Francisco, beach day at Santa Cruz and barbeques. I had some
time to visit the Golden Bridge and park and the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. The campus was nice, the mode of
transportation around campus was bikes. At the beginning, I had some troubles
riding my bike, but once I learned, it was fun!!
Some of the highlights of my summer, in addition to
research, were being able to meet with some faculty like Dr. Andrew Fire, the
2006 Nobel winner (together with Dr. Craig Mello) for RNA interfenrce and Dr.
Snyder one of the leading scientist in personalize medicine and the director of
Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine.
At the end of the summer, I gave a talk and did a poster
about my research on lncRNAs as part of the program. Overall, I had a great
summer!!
Thank you for Reading
Julia T. Garcia
