Summer Undergraduate Research Program - Fred Hutchinson ...

Extra Personal Statement #4
I still have the first sample of DNA that I ever isolated, from salmon sperm, in a screw-top
test tube located on my dresser at my parents' house. During my junior year of high
school, I attended a seminar at Georgetown University-Washington D.C. called
"Molecular Medicine in Action" where I found those first nucleic acids. Although, that
first sample has great importance to me, it was only the beginning of my pursuit of an
interest in cellular biology. Almost four years after my first interest in research was
piqued at that conference, I have isolated countless samples of DNA, not only for lab
courses at the University of California-San Diego, but also for the two research labs in
which I work.
At the beginning of my second year at the University of California, I joined Dr. Greg
Ludwig's C. elegans lab. We currently study a novel nuclear pathway of RNAi. I assisted
with screening for nuclear RNAi deficient (nrde) mutants, helped map one of these genes,
and analyzed phenotypes of these mutants. I crossed these mutants into RNAi mutants
with known function to determine where in the known RNAi pathway that nuclear RNAi
may bifurcate. In addition, I have attempted to isolate C. elegans viruses. The process of
RNAi in plants has been found to fight viral infection. Presumably this may occur in C.
elegans as well, but no viruses specific to this species have yet been found. The species C.
elegans has been previously isolated on campus. I have revisited the general area of these
sites and have determined additional sites around campus that are likely inhabited by
nematodes and have taken soil samples from which I have attempted to isolate viruses.
Although, we do not have much faith in finding viruses since they have not been found
yet, the fun is in the search.
In January 2006, I joined a lab in the Department of Oncology under Dr. Jacquelyn
Rossi, and I continue to work there now. I analyze tumor development in a transgenic
mouse containing a proto-oncogene. My project consists of maintaining the mouse
colony, as well as palpating and dissecting mice with mammary tumors and fixing
tumors for histological study. I have been attempting to determine if mRNA of this
proto-oncogene can be used as a marker for tumor presence in humans.
In order to benefit from the labs, I have had to take a number of classes to expose me to
the terminology and methods of experimentation. However, the class that has most
greatly influenced my future research interests was Eukaryotic Cell Biology. Dr. Diane
Bough required the class to critique published papers, showing me that I could find the
flaws and not take the figures at face value. Moreover, she taught cellular processes like a
story, explaining each event in signal transduction cascades as a chapter. Finally having
cell processes explained at that level, rather than the vague accounts taught in my prior
classes, solidified my desire to do research and continue elucidating the cell processes
begun by others.
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