Benni Vargas, Blog 2

Greetings everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer research experience and are finishing (or finished) strong! Western blot after western blot, we have finally gotten positive results in the laboratory of Dr. Deborah H. Spector here at the University of California, San Diego! We were trying to determine whether our two drugs of interest –pitavastatin and trehalose– had inhibitory effects on Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) viral DNA replication. Turns out, they both inhibited many viral replication proteins! We hope that these insights into the effects of statins and trehalose in viral replication can lead to new therapeutic treatments to help reduce the HCMV risk factor in atherosclerosis. My direct mentor at UCLA would be delighted to know that one of the techniques I learned at UCSD is the Western blot since we will be doing them when I return. The UCSD STARS program has come to an end and I will be missing all of the students, staff, and faculty who made my summer research experience a worthy and enjoyable one. 

UCSD STARS 2015 cohort (I’m near the left!).

Post-UCSD Summer Research Conference picture in front of the UCSD Geisel library.

I have learned so much from this experience. I will miss the Spector lab!

Me and my direct mentor, Maite. She taught me how to be a Western blot master. I will miss her dearly.

Taking a stroll down to the beach after a hard day’s work in lab.

Don’t be fooled by the comical lion. We are hard at work. The lion sticker is fluorescent and helps us to orient our Western blot autoradiography films when developing them.