Weekly Blog #4

Due: Friday, June 11 by 5 PM

Week 4: 

• Self-reflection post (to be copied into your spring reports along with your faculty advisor’s report). Be sure to reflect on your progress towards your initial goals.

• Would you recommend this senior project to another student? Why?

• 1-2 images/photos

• Respond to a comment from last week

Self-Reflection

I DEFINITELY chose the right Senior project.

The main reason for choosing this project was to learn more about research and medicine since that is the field I want to go into in the future whether it be through engineering, medical school, etc. Talking to Dr. Lindner, Matt Muller, The Anh Nguyen, among others, I gained great insights on what research is like as well as how to compare an engineering master's, a Ph.D., and med school. I now feel better equipped to choose the right path.

Getting to know everybody at the lab was a blessing and someday if I run or work in a lab, that is the kind of team I want to work with every day. In fact, someday I hope I get to work with them again.

I learned so much about science, but just as importantly, I have come to value the power of connections and getting job opportunities with the brightest, kindest people in the field. As I transition to college, I will continue to ask questions and reach out to as many people as possible because I could not have asked for a better group of people with which to spend a month working.

Here are my three initial goals and the progress I made on each of them:

1. I wanted to learn about the process of getting funding for research, finding lab space, putting together a team, etc. all of the logistics.

Rather than learning about the logistics, I learned a lot more about the lab, the research, the people, at an interpersonal level. The lighthearted environment where everybody at the lab can have regular, comedic, conversations does not distract from the passion for research in the air. The highlight of my four weeks may possibly have been seeing how excited everybody was when an experiment was successful, whether it was a surgery with a mouse, or bubbles that appeared clearly under a microscope. Dr. Lindner's lab is unusually involved in a variety of different kinds of research. They all have things in common such as working with blood flow, a kind of bubbles, etc. However, each member of the lab has their own project under that umbrella that they are pursuing that in the end strengthens everybody else's work and inspires them to dive into new discoveries.

2. I wanted to learn the ins and outs of the experiment that Dr. Lindner and his team are carrying out. 

I now have a solid understanding of The Anh and Dr. Lindner's experiment testing whether NRLP3 prevents post-ischemia reperfusion injury which is caused by stuck and slow rolling leukocytes following low blood flow. I got to see a live surgery of three lab mice where blood flow was restricted to their cremaster muscle to see the speed of the leukocytes before, during, and after.

In addition, I also learned about an experiment Aris and Melinda were working on using bubbles that bind to platelets, leukocytes, or other molecules based on their outer structure to track blood flow, blood coagulation, etc.

Matt has also been working with a similar kind of bubble which is injected into the bloodstream. Then whatever area has low blood flow because of clotting can be targeted to pop the bubbles increasing the blood flow in that area.

3. I wanted to learn about what steps Dr. Lindner and his team take to treat the mice humanely and whether similar experiments could be run without taking the animals' lives.

I, unfortunately, did not learn about alternatives to using mice in the lab. That is something that I will focus on in my future research in college, and career-wise moving forward. However, I have come to understand the importance of being able to replicate the human body systems accurately when testing a drug or a treatment that will be given to humans at some point in the future. While I do still struggle with the morality of the situation, the positive impact that these treatments would have on the population is undeniable. I also see the level of care devoted to running successful experiments and to keeping the mice alive and anesthetized. 

Would I recommend this Senior Project to another student?

YES! Absolutely I would recommend this kind of project to other students. I have had so much fun getting to know the people working in the lab and learning about the kind of research they carry out. For anyone that wants to get a head start on understanding the professional world that they will soon be navigating no matter what kind of line of work they want to go into, their Senior Project is a great chance to explore that. As a high schooler, especially looking into medicine, or even my job working at a restaurant, you will not yet be able to do all of the awesome things like operating on lab mice, administering drugs and stuff like that, or in the case of my work at a restaurant, I don't get to be a line cook just yet, I am starting off as a host and helping out with halving and pitting cherries this Tuesday. Instead, wherever you chose to work, you will probably be doing the busy work that the professionals are too busy to do: crunching numbers into a spreadsheet, analyzing intravital microscopy footage, etc. That will be fun! But the best part will be just getting the chance to spend time getting to know everybody on the team and talking to them. In essence, whatever your task is, in a way, it is an excuse to be there. The real value for me really came from being a sponge, soaking up the environment. I would ask as many questions as possible to understand what each researcher was working on, what each instrument did, what role they each played in the lab. In summary, getting a job or interning can be a lot of busywork, but it is all worth it if you make connections and make the effort to learn as much as possible, especially outside of what you are working on.

Here is a presentation that Dr. Lindner gave for OHSU doners explaining his research:

https://vimeo.com/tfcllc/review/559824639/920890d789