Weekly Report #16: “Snow, Mentorship, and the Original Work Project” (Week of January 15th, 2024)

During the winter break I went to California, and it was the most fun experience I’ve ever had. Although I did become sick while I was there, I still had a lot of fun as I soon recovered. The best moment was when we went to Lake Tahoe, as it was the first time I saw such thick layers of snow. My friend and I went tubing, and then drank hot chocolate afterwards, and it was extremely fun. Just looking at all the snowflakes makes me want to make a snowman. We did a lot of hiking till the peak of the mountain, and went to places like Ghiradelli and Stanford. Everything looked so cool, and the weather was pretty good too.

Despite all the fun in California, I still made a lot of progress in my Original Work Project while on winter break. I researched more on the topic, and found out a lot about the current technologies used to measure the membrane potential of the cells. I also read about the new technologies being made for potential treatments of cancer such as optogenetics. Additionally, I observed the computational model that I received from Dr. Carvalho, in which I could see how depolarized cells act. 

After the Winter break, I scheduled multiple interviews, in which I gained a lot of information about how depolarization and high calcium influx affects the cells. I also learned about potential areas I could focus on to study in my project later on.

I had an interview with Ms. Crystal Zhang, who is a PhD student at Dr. Oudin’s lab from Tufts University. My interview with Ms Zhang gave me information about Potassium channels and how calcium ions affect the cell. She also talked about the process of observing the different effects of ion channels on cancer cells and talked about the research process. Additionally, she advised me to write a literature review on the topic of bioelectricity and cancer, which was what brought me to write my recent review.I am aiming to apply to Tufts university, among others, as I feel that it would be the best for the area I want to pursue. There are multiple labs in that area that focus on channel research, cancer research, and even specifically bioelectricity. I’ve been working on my applications for summer programs and I hope that Tufts is one of the programs I get into. I also hope I get into Rockefeller or SSP for the summer, and I have so many potential plans that I hope I can accomplish.

Eventually, after studying multiple papers and conducting multiple interviews, I finally found some success in my most recent interview with Dr. Nagarjun Venkata. My interview with Dr. Venkata gave me information about Lung Adenocarcinoma and how pollutants and nanoparticles change normal cells to cancer cells. He advised me to explore the role of SLC 34 A2(sodium channel) in lung carcinoma, and to read papers discussing its role first in humans, then in vitro, and finally in animals, to observe its effects. Additionally, he told me to observe whether this channel is changed or affected in smokers or people at higher risk of lung adenocarcinoma due to pollution or other nanoparticle factors. Moreover, he encouraged me to pursue science by obtaining a Ph.D. and advised me about how research takes a lot of time and that to continue in the field I must have passion, but especially patience. This interview went extremely well, and I learned more information that helped me to pinpoint the way I may go after the Original work Project.I requested whether he would consider being my mentor, and he said yes! Now I’m waiting for the approval of the district, but soon we will be able to continue the research process, and hopefully he could show me some things that he does in his research!

I’m extremely grateful and excited for the New year.I plan to further explore the role of this channel in lung adenocarcinoma with the help of Dr. Nagarjun Venkata in my future research. Additionally, for the Original Work Project, I’ve written a Literature Review, which took me a LOT of time, but was still worth it, and I’m extremely happy I did it. It marks the beginning of my journey, as it helped me develop my skills in writing, and as I learn more about my topic, I can develop it more. It is essential as it helps me gather what I’ve learned till now, including and excluding the assignments done in class, and will help me once I’m ready to write a research paper in the future.