Nikon Small World Exhibit

Nerd alert. This post is science related. But, if you like beautiful images, you may enjoy it. 

After an interview in University City (an area of Philadelphia that houses University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and University of the Sciences) a couple of  weeks ago, I visited the Wistar Institute to take a look at the winning images in the Nikon Small World Exhibit. This exhibit is a photomicrography competition where individuals can submit beautiful microscopic images of just about anything they view during their research studies.

As a person who loves all types of photography, this seems like it's something up my alley in terms of interest. The images that won the competition were all stunning. They ranged from images of the minutest things like DNA to ant larvae. I sure wish I had an electron microscope and camera (and you know, a scientific research lab) just lying around my house to take images like these.

Btw, my photos of the exhibit doesn't do the images much justice, as they truly are beautiful. You can visit the official website to get a better view of the photos in the exhibit I went to and winners of the previous exhibits here.

This was my favorite image: bat embryos at different stages of development!! (Pity it got last place).  This was my second favorite: ant carrying its larva.

NOTE: The Nikon Small World Exhibit ran through March 3 at the Wistar Institute in Philly. I know. I know. This post is way overdue. I meant to post it earlier, but kept putting it off until it was obviously too late.

Closer

 

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One week from now, I will begin my volunteer internship at a cancer research facility in Philly. As you may remember from this post, I have contacted a 'whole heap' of research labs in February and March looking for someone to sponsor me for an internship. I wanted the experience more than anything. It is one thing to acquire many college degrees, but it's another to have enough experience to get a job done when/if you are hired. I learned this while applying for laboratory jobs this past school year. Many companies were more interested in hiring someone with a high school diploma and about 6+ years of experience than someone with their BS or MS with no professional experience. I knew I had to do something about it.

I contacted various researchers personally, submitting my academic CV and asking if I could work in their research laboratory during the summer (even if it was just a volunteer position). I got the response from one facility asking me to come in for an interview during my spring break. I went in nervous as all ever, thinking that they might ask me to relay something like the molecular pathway involved in apoptosis.  I met with the the head of the breast cancer research lab, and I honestly believe that he had already made his decision before I got there. He asked why I was interested in cancer research. I explained to him my experience with cancer in one of my family members and all that I have learned about cancer in my classes, news reports, articles, etc. I was really emotional answering his question, but he handed me tissues and said it's okay because it "shows [my] passion for the subject". Without further hesitation, he welcomed me as a full-time volunteer researcher and told me about the team members I would be working with and asked that I had two recommendations sent to him. It all happened so fast that I doubted being accepted. I thought, 'well, maybe he was just giving me an idea of what it would be like to work there, if I were to be accepted'. The following week, I received an email from him listing all of my responsibilities for the summer. Needless to say, I was thoroughly surprised and pretty ecstatic!

 

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So, I begin my internship next week. And with this, I feel as though I am one step closer to my dream of working at a cancer research facility. This summer will be challenging. I will be volunteering full time, with only holidays (Memorial Day and Independence Day) and weekends off. I have two 10-page, single-spaced papers to write, a weekly debriefing meeting with the lab, and a final 20-minute presentation at the end of the summer to discuss what I have accomplished and learned. This will be challenging indeed, but it's what i want.

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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**