Plans for the Summer!

That's me! ... and my neurobio professor in lab last year (2010). (Source)

I am pretty darn excited for this summer!

{No! Not for the disgustingly humid city weather...}

I am excited because I have been on my grind lately, trying to find a research or laboratory internship and it's all coming together!

My interest in a career in the research and development field (R&D) sparked at the latter end of my sophomore year in college. I realized that med school was not what I wanted after all. I liked working in the lab more than anything and I actually looked forward to going to lab every week. Whether it was dissecting rabbit muscles, trying to develop a vaccine against Staph aureus, or harvesting neurons from fetal rats, I loved every bit of it.

Now, for this summer, I have chosen to directly contact a few researchers to petition a summer internship in their lab. Preferably, I would like to have a paid internship. However, I desire to gain experience more than anything, so I have also petitioned for volunteer positions (with hopes of finding a little part-time gig to save up for my second year of grad school). I strongly believe that any position will help me to refine the skills I've gained during my undergraduate career and teach me new ones. With Philly as my 'permanent home', I have a wide variety of research organizations (i.e. GSK, FCCC, Wistar Institute, etc.) and universities (i.e. Drexel, Temple, UPenn, PCOM etc) in range that I can work with.

I have my first interview next week! ツ

Photo sharing: Drew U surely brought out the science lover in me! Enjoy these pics...

Ferns grown from tiny spores (freshman year).

Dissecting bunnies (sophomore year).

DNA fragmented by agarose gel electrophoresis (junior year).

DAPI-stained DNA microtubules during interphase (junior year).

Anatomy & Physiology lab (junior year).

The effects of glutamate cytotoxicity on neurons (senior year).

Trip to the Bronx Zoo (sophomore year).

**All photos are my own**