After finishing the SURF program in the summer, I decided to stay with the lab and move on to the next project. Our lab started a project on the YARS2 (mitochondrial tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase) gene. I will be working with Dr.Wang and she will teach me the skills that I need for this new project. The simple way to think about this project is that people with this kind of mutation will have problem in making polypeptide chain, which means the expected chain will not be formed correctly due to the problem in forming cha complex between an amino acid, Tyrosyl, and t-RNAs. The interesting part is that we think this mutation also links to two other popular point mutation on mitochondrial gene, 3635G-A and 11778G-A. These mutation are seen widely and is related to a disease called Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), a disease that lead to the lost of vision during adulthood and usually happen to male. My main task in this project will be culturing 12 lymphocyte cell line until they are ready for the next step which is mitochondrial isolation. After we get mitochondria from all the cell line we will move on to collect t-RNAs to collect data. This experience is one of my favorite experience because it actually show me the down side of doing research. I have learned that failure is one of the big part of doing research and unlike any other job, you cannot expect success for every project that you start. Even though projects take a lot of time and money, failing is necessary and is a the nature of this kind of job. You will learn so much even though you fail and that is that part that I love the most about doing research. A door close, another door will open.
Update on my research process: After I finished this project, I stayed around to help with 1 more and then I move on to work with the college of medicine and the biodiesel project for a semester just to have some changes in the direction that I am heading to. It is always good to stay open-minded and put effort into finding your passion.
Here is my reflection on this experience:
Update on my research process: After I finished this project, I stayed around to help with 1 more and then I move on to work with the college of medicine and the biodiesel project for a semester just to have some changes in the direction that I am heading to. It is always good to stay open-minded and put effort into finding your passion.
Here is my reflection on this experience:
yars2_reflection_ucdts_20142903111131_1.docx | |
File Size: | 159 kb |
File Type: | docx |