Science and ‘The Success’

Despite some dashing hopes and letdowns, I found the movie ‘Naturally Obsessed: The making of a scientist’ really exhorting and heart touching. The movie basically is trying to picture out how a truly devoted scientist can get rid of the hurdles and obstacles that come up in his/her way during his/her process of forward movement. The movie also shows how the graduate students not only consecrate their precious time in their research but also have to face failure most of the times in spite of their long allegiance to Science. On the other hand, the movie is also trying to explicate the joyous moment one is going to have when he/she actually kisses the success in his/her research project and obtain a PhD degree. As I saw the students in the movie dying to see their success but not being able to, I was little frustrated in the beginning because I am planning to pursue the same career later in my life as they are. But, when I saw the happiness of one of the students after he obtained his degree, I found myself in him for an instant, thought that I was the one who got that PhD degree and then started feeling that I am flying in the sky in the jet of my success.

The movie includes the commitment of few students, a lab student Rob and a lab professor Shapiro at Columbia University, New York. Even though there are quite a few characters in this movie, it primarily focuses on the failures and the final achievement of the lab student Rob Towney who actually got kicked out of other places where he used to work. He was a normal person like us in the beginning but his hard work and his industriousness changed him into a successful PhD doctor. In the beginning of the movie, Rob mentions that he dropped out of his undergraduate school thrice, once to be a bus boy. It makes me feel that he dropped because of some financial crises. This boy who was already laid behind, comes back with his enthusiasm to be a PhD doctor. Lawrence Shapiro was the one who hired him when Rob was in that juncture. Rob works in Shapiro’s lab but after working for a long time on MPK protein, he finds that he is not getting the positive result. He gets frustrated and stops working for 3 months thinking that he is doing nothing but a vain attempt. But, after 3 months he comes back again and starts working on his research again. After spending solid amount of time on his research, he finally becomes able to get what he wanted, presents his findings and finally gets his PhD degree. This is how the movie comes to an end which has presented Rob’s achievement in a very beautiful way. There are also some other students in the movie who, unlike Rob stopped working on their research and started pursuing other different careers.

This movie teaches us the fact that failures act as a stairway to reach success. Like Rob, most of the people fail while working on their research which might not only be once but many times but what we should know is we should not get terrified by failures. We should learn from Rob’s life that it’s actually failure which lightens the path for success.

In one point of the movie Shapiro mentions that there is not a big difference between success and failure in Science because we attempt or we try in both cases but we become successful when we try in right order. I think this statement is very crucial in the life of every student who wants to attain PhD. As per my own experience, for the J-term class I am taking, I have been working for the same project again and again. I have failed quite a few times as I didn’t get the positive results. This actually made me feel that failure is an important part of Research and it is obvious to fail. When I failed for the first one or two times, I was really frustrated and questioned myself “Oh! My God, failures after all these commitments but why?” But now, after failing for few more times I know that failing is possible. I will not regret if I fail but I definitely will if I don’t even try. That is why we have to learn from failure and I am sure that one day when I will put everything in right order as Shapiro said, success is inevitable.

From Shapiro’s life, we also learned that tragedy can happen in our lives but we have to make ourselves strong. How shocked he must have been when he heard about his father’s death on the day when his paper was published by Nature? Do you think he was happy that day? In spite of this, Shapiro is strong, still in the lab and bringing change in the life of the people like Rob. We also heard about the broken relationship between a student (Kil) and his fiancée. These things happen in life but we, the students, who have decided to dedicate our life in research shouldn’t be moved due to these situations.

Once you have decided to attain a PhD degree and pursue a Science career, you have to be strong. Bad things happen in life, success flies away and failure keeps on embracing us but we should never lose our hope. If we believe in ourselves and keep focusing on what we want to do, success will be a ‘kismet’. Success will come to your feet by itself if you stand like a rock and never lose hope. According to Sven Goran Erikkson “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” So, if you seek success, never let the failure terrify you. This is what I learned from this movie.

Source Cited:

http://www.thirteen.org/naturally-obsessed/

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the-greatest-barrier-to-success-is-the-fear-of/410611.html

http://motivationalcartoons.wordpress.com/2007/11/

Science and my career

After reading the article ‘How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists. Part I: taking the plunge’, I pondered for a while and started asking various strange questions to myself- ‘Is Science really an arena where I want to consecrate my whole life? Am I going to get what I want in the future or at least what I deserve after all my devotion and commitment to this field? Am I going to be happy by embracing this field?’ These questions ran through my mind like a swirling river. It actually covered me with a black cloud of disappointment for a while. I want to attain PhD in biomedical research but I found this article directly pointing to the career that I have always dreamt of. I seriously stopped for a while, closed my eyes and imagined what will happen to me and my dreams if what the writer in the article has written actually happen in reality. As I moved, I found this article more amusing than shuddery and then I decided to continue reading.

I agree the fact that the future of a scientist depends a lot on serendipity but we can do a lot to shape our luck. One who knows how to dance can definitely expect a better luck in a dance floor than one who can’t move his limbs. The writer’s words are also very encouraging. Science is definitely challenging but it does create discoveries. The writer has done a fantastic job by explaining the very minute details that a student should think of in his career for example choosing a mentor or a laboratory. I do choose my mentor whenever I sign up for any class. Before taking a class, I talk to people who have already taken that class with that mentor. I ask them how he/she is as a mentor, his/her way of explicating materials, his/her ability to make the students understand what he/she is saying and of course his grading styles. The way how the writer elaborated the importance of a good mentor in a research lab by giving the example of the story of rabbit and fox is outstanding. Besides that, some tips that he has provided in his article which are crucial to pursue a Science career with success are really helpful to us. He has also made an immense attempt to aware the students that a career in Science not only requires commitment but also talents. If someone can work as hard as Hercules but cannot grab anything related to Science, then it’s beneficial for him to seek some other paths. This article has significant relation with my life, especially with my intended career. I always think what if I don’t get what I want later in my life. To get something that I want, I need to get ready from now. I talk to myself about the commitment I need and the talents that I need to have, to obtain my goals. I did ponder if I will be happy and if I will be in the position that I want to be before choosing Science as my career in high school and college. I excogitated my talents and the limit of my hard-work before pursuing a Science career. I am also sure that I will continue following these principles when I move closer and closer to my intended career.

After reading the Part II of the same article, I became more optimistic. Unlike in Part I where the writer has primarily focused on what do the students need to have a successful career, he has emphasized on what they need to do in order to achieve what they want in this part. Commitment and talents are important but the writer has also underscored the fact that choosing an experiment, designing it, learning how to do it and believing in his/her luck are the crucial factors for a student to flourish. Optimism is required. Willingness to discover something new that will be remunerative for the world is mandatory. Exploring yourself in the field where your heart, not your brain wants you to be in is a requirement. If we have willingness to do something, we should do it.  I like how he mentioned “the outcome of the perfect training experience is that you leave the laboratory thinking that your mentor is a good person, but a bit dumb” (Yewdell). He is not encouraging us to think that our mentor is dumb but is urging us to widen the horizon of our willingness to do something. He is urging us to be more anxious as well as more positive about doing something. He wants us to feel that we are doing something for fun not to achieve our goal. I have always tried to come up with my own ideas, tried to use them in an appropriate sector and have always tried to interpret them in the best way. I always trust my luck. I will definitely follow all these when I approach to my intended career.

In the article ‘The importance of stupidity in Science’, Schwartz is trying to explain us how stupidity is fruitful in Science in a hilarious way. I like how he mentioned in his article that we think that we like Science because we are good at it. Getting right answers to the question makes us feel smart but that is not true and this can lead us somewhere that we don’t belong to. He wants us to be very careful about that and then take a right decision. Besides, he also wants us to be stupid but in a productive way. He is encouraging us not to get scared to attempt for something thinking that we might get a wrong result but to learn how to deal with something that is wrong. He is emphasizing the fact that more stupidity creates more knowledge which ultimately leads to big discoveries. I second his belief that stupidity is required for success. Stupidity might open the hidden ideas. Stupidity of course broadens our level of understanding and sometimes can also help us to know something that we don’t have enough idea of.

Overall, these three articles gave me a very good idea of how I should prepare for my intended career, what I should do, how I should handle everything and what actually will make me different than others. These are not only related to my life but also with my career that I am going to pursue.

Source Cited::

Yewdell, Jonathan W. "How to Succeed in Science: a Concise Guide for Young Biomedical Scientists. Part I: Taking the Plunge." Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9.5 (2008): 413-16. Print.

Yewdell, Jonathan W. "Access : How to Succeed in Science: a Concise Guide for Young Biomedical Scientists. Part II: Making Discoveries : Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology." Nature Publishing Group : Science Journals, Jobs, and Information. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/v9/n6/full/nrm2390.html>.

Schwartz, Martin A. "The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research -- Schwartz 121 (11): 1771 -- Journal of Cell Science." The Company of Biologists Ltd: Journal of Cell Science

. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/121/11/1771>.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://spuriousmonkey.com/cartoons/cartoons_december_2007/11december2007MT-B.png&imgrefurl=http://spuriousmonkey.com/2007/12/11/life-of-lab-animals-cartoon-biology-or-medicine/&usg=__lAQiykGyV09CLBGEE1mcAj2wnqs=&h=600&w=280&sz=23&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=sldw401snaYTfM:&tbnh=146&tbnw=65&ei=Tg40TaGdFMPbgQfg_KzaCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstupid%2Bscience%2Bcartoons%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1173%26bih%3D739%26tbs%3Disch:10,463&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=325&vpy=15&dur=11412&hovh=329&hovw=153&tx=107&ty=175&oei=zg00TfDOLYGB8gaKkszJCA&esq=9&page=1&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0&biw=1173&bih=739

Intensive Research and My Opinions

Whenever I used to pass by DNA laboratory and see some chemicals shaking in the shaker, I used to think what actually was going on. In my 12 years of Science career, I had never seen the instrument like that which kept on shaking some solutions in test-tubes or some conical flasks every time I see it. I used to look at it for few minutes and then walk by thinking that I might also use the same instrument sometime in my career in Loras. Now, after working for a research as a J-term class for the first time in my life, I figured it out that this instrument is nothing but a shaker which keeps shaking the solution which enhances the growth of organisms by the uniform distribution of the nutrients in the solution.

Those days when research was limited just as a word in my mind, I used to think that research is a term that we can relate to the scientists like Watson and Mendel only. I used to believe that a person who has 100% idea about the Science can only perform any research and in order to do any research we need to be a really popular scientist. That might be the reason when I was small, I used to answer everyone as ‘A popular scientist’ when they used to question me about my career plan in the future. I even used to think that to do any research, we need a very huge sum of money and equipments and that is why research is something limited to special research centers or organizations only. I also used to think that it is not possible to do any research in a small group. I believed that we need large group of people to perform any research and come to the certain results. But, taking a research class for the J-term has completely changed my opinion of what research is and how it is done.

Now, I know that research is not only limited to the big Science labs where there are all different instruments and materials. Research can also be done with few people in a group. A research can also be done by a single person if he knows what he is doing and how should he proceed in order to approach his goals. It is true that the research can be conducted in an advanced way if we have more equipment and more materials. I learned this after visiting University of Iowa where they have so many different types of lab instruments which of course help them to perform their research in advanced way but even though we have limited resources in comparison to them, we are still being able to work on our project and get good results.

The another very important change that this class has brought in me is now I know that even though we have a certain goal as a research goal, the researchers work in lab step by step and then approach near to their goal gradually. Before, I used to think that there is always a specific objective for a research and researchers work every day and night specifically in that field until they obtain their goal. But what I learned from this research class is, even though we have our ultimate goals, we start in lab with very basic things and steps which is very far from that ultimate goal. We work in the same way slowly and gradually and try to connect each conclusion that we drew from every task with our ultimate goal. In this way we approach closer and closer to our goal and finally obtain it. Now, this is what I think a research is.

Also, I knew that research is something that is pretty intense but I never thought that we will have to take very minute things in consideration. When I used to work in lab in my high school, we used to measure the liquid in millimeters but now in my J-term research, I am measuring the liquids in micro-liter which is very small unit of measurement. Besides that, I also learned that a very good interest, a good devotion and a determination is required to obtain the good results in a research.

As I mentioned earlier, I always wanted to be a biochemical researcher and work in the forensic labs. During my childhood, I used to watch the shows related to the crime investigation which actually motivated me to work in forensic labs but due to the lack of the resources and required instruments in my country, I never had enough experience about using lab instruments. In my school and high school back home, the resources were limited and were not as advanced as in here. I never saw a ‘Recombinant DNA technology’ lab when I was back home. Due to this lack of advanced instruments, I was not sure if I would be able to devote myself in the field of research or not to obtain the goal of my life. After I came here and started working for this J-term class, my desire to be a forensic chemist has rejuvenated. Even though this is the first independent research I am doing ever, it has given a very good overall idea about what actually a research looks like. I, personally, have also found doing research is pretty interesting. I love working in labs on a project until we obtain our goal and I think to be a scientist doing research as a career is a very good idea. If I get chance to work in a forensic labs, I will also love to be a biomedical researcher where I can not only work for crime investigation but also work for medical purposes to find the causative agents of different diseases along with their cure. So, for me pursuing a career as a scientist doing research will mean a great achievement in my life.

 - Research is  a "systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to “generalizable 

knowledge.”  (Defined under HHS Regulations (46.102) )

Source Cited:

http://www.clinicalresearch.pitt.edu/docs/research-related_terms.pdf

http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/education/teachers/cict_2007.html

http://aboutosteoporosis.org/grants/Research_Grant_Submission_Instructions.htm

           

Experiment Shadowing

As I was thinking about shadowing somebody’s experiment, I thought shadowing Brennan’s experiment would be a very good idea whose ultimate goal in the project is to isolate RNA from zebra fish’s embryonic stage. As many proteins formation occur during embryonic stage, RNA plays a very vital role, and thus can be isolated from its embryonic stage. He is actually dealing with m-RNA in his project. The goal of his project is also to tag the embryo with GFP (Green Protein Fluorescence) proteins and to see if the embryos fluoresce under fluorescence microscope.

One very important similarity that I found between my project and Brennan’s project was Brennan’s project uses a technique to isolate RNA, which I was also supposed to use in my project to isolate the plasmid DNA from VPS18 protein cells but as we already had our VPS18 DNA plasmid from last year we decided not to isolate them. So, I had no knowledge about running PCR and DNA gel but shadowing his experiment for half an hour gave me a very good idea about those techniques we apply for DNA/RNA isolation. When I shadowed Brennan, he was performing one of the very important sections of his experiment which was to examine if cDNA is viable or not. He was trying to do this by using different primers. I found shadowing Brennan’s experiment pretty productive as I saw how to run PCR and make DNA gel and observe it under UV rays. He explained to me that PCR actually stands for Polymerase Chain Reaction. As DNAs is very small, it’s very difficult to see them so the main objective of using PCR in his project is to amplify DNA. To run PCR, we first need to check if our cDNA is good or not and to check it we run control and experimental samples. If it shows up in control, then our c-DNA is good but if it doesn’t, then cDNA is not good enough, then we can’t tell if gene will be expressed by the data or not but if it shows up in control as well as in experimental, then the gene is expressed. They used cDNA instead of RNA because RNA is very unstable and can be easily cleaved by RNAses, thus they use DNA which is directly synthesized from an RNA template (Peterson, Freeman). It was also interesting to watch him setting up the solution for PCR. I have not used the chemical DNTP in my project but this chemical is very important for his project (it could have been important in my project too if I had isolated DNA from VPS18) as they are the building blocks for new gene replications. I also learned how buffer (PAQ5000) increases efficiency and enzyme (PAQ5000) makes the copy of nucleotides. Learning to make a PCR solution was a totally new technique for me.

Zebra fish embryo with GFP

Yeast cells with GFP

The other similarity that I found between Brennan’s project and mine is both of our projects ultimately deal with GFP cells but the only difference is he is trying to tag them in a zebra fish embryo but I am trying to observe them in yeast cells. We both will use fluorescence microscope in order to look at those GFP proteins tagged in embryo (his project) or in cells (my project).

Even though there are some similarities between Brennan’s and my project, I found most of the things between our projects are different including lab techniques we apply, our primary objective, and other sub-goals etc. The difference is obvious as I am doing my research on yeast which is a primitive fungus whereas he is working on a zebra fish which is a vertebrate.  It’s true that both of our researches deal with proteins but unlike Brennan who is focusing on production of protein for the development of an organism, I am dealing with the life cycle of protein in cells. His project observes the proteins through mRNA but my project observes protein (GFP) by its interaction with other proteins (VPS18). Brennan’s project tries to find the answers for questions like where the RNAs are and how the protein formation occurs in mRNA but my project searches answers for questions like how the specific protein (eg GFP) are made, where do they go when yeast grow etc. His project basically deals about nucleic acid isolation whereas mine deals with change in proteins in hybrid yeast cells due to mating. He is dealing with the proteins in embryonic stage whereas my project deals with the matured yeast cells.

Brennan also gave me a brief idea about making DNA gel and how that is important in his experiment. He showed me how Agar, TAE and ethylene bromide (interpolating agent) forms a gel. He explained to me the fact that DNA is negatively charged and move to the positive charge and how the smaller fragments move faster. Observing the DNA ladder formed from that process was pretty interesting. I also came to learn about the fact that knowing the sequence of a vector and gene lets us to estimate the length of the product as well as its purity.

Overall, I would say shadowing Brennan’s experiment was really fruitful as I got an opportunity to know about many techniques that I have not used or may be will not be using during this J-term class. But now, if someone comes and ask me about what PCR is, what it does, what DNA ladder does etc, then I will at least be able to give them a superficial idea about what they actually are.

 Peterson, S. M., Freeman, J. L., RNA Isolation from Embryonic Zebrafish and cDNA Synthesis for Gene Expression Analysis http://www.jove.com/details.stp?id=1470 doi: 10.3791/1470. J Vis Exp. 30 (2009).

http://www.zeiss.com/c12567be0045acf1/Contents-Frame/434348ca09f28863c1257421004d1819

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/thisweek/2005/nov/11_07_stemcell.asp