Solving My Life's Puzzles, One Healthcare Experience at a Time
June 18, 2023
During middle school, I used to see myself at the kitchen table, grinning and shakily holding up an Ivy League acceptance letter to my family. In high school, things became a bit hazier, but I still wanted to be that high-achieving student all my peers competed to be and all my family envisioned me to be. Daydreaming in my classrooms, I saw myself inside a laboratory stooped over a microscope, trying to find the next best cure to the next worst world issue. Then once senior year hit, all the pressure came crashing through the roof. I burned out, and all the opportunities faded in 2020. The cutting words I gave myself suffocated me inside my bedroom where I spent hours doing my online classes and video gaming during quarantine. Years passed and I entered the University of Delaware, and now with no more plans, no more envisioning, no more imaginary acceptance letters, I spent time searching for what I wanted my future to look like.
It first started with the biology courses, and with those, my love for learning started to rekindle. Later on, I talked with a career counselor and tentatively decided to see what medicine was like. I shadowed countless doctors and spent hours in hospitals and medical offices, and it was with healthcare where all my passion for absolutely everything came flooding through. I started working (and still do) for a phenomenal and compassionate ophthalmologist, and inside those exam rooms, I connected with and provided relief for the patients. Throughout the semesters, I continued hounding after any opportunities in both healthcare and self-improvement, whether it was volunteering in hospitals or channeling my love for video games for my school team. Medicine showed me that I would find true fulfillment in using my love for biology for my community’s benefit, and it is for all those reasons and all my experiences within the past several years that I want to become a doctor.
Ever since stepping foot in the Fox Chase Cancer Center, I have been nothing short of inspired. I applied, of course, to open new doors for any opportunities I would have the honor of experiencing. However, I also applied because I wanted to open up and dive into the world of medicine. I knew Fox Chase was an esteemed facility for both learning and caretaking, and in my time here, that has proven to be true.
Throughout the first week of “boot camp”, Dr. Leystra and Dr. Purdy introduced themselves and other amazing persons to us. Initially, I was nervous about not feeling connected with the institute’s work, but I confirmed that to be incorrect. The speakers give truly breathtaking talks about their research, and I have been thoroughly amazed by all the hard work that happens while the rest of the world goes through their daily lives. From discovering drugs that could increase potential for cancer therapy, or finding patterns within cancer patient populations, the individuals I have met so far consistently leave me excited for more of their knowledge and discoveries. We also practiced essential laboratory skills that were undeniably useful later on, including serial dilutions and retaining information from journal articles.
During the next week, I was introduced to the Cukierman lab. Although all the information and work was overwhelming, I could not help but feel hungry to learn and become a better researcher and scholar. I battled learning curves inside the cell culture laboratory (as well as the slight embarrassment of brain-fogging during dilutions), but I felt fully invigorated to participate in my laboratory’s research and add my efforts to the cause. The researchers there were from all over the world, and it has been a gratifying and amazing experience to meet and collaborate with them.
I look forward to the rest of my summer with Fox Chase, and this time, instead of waving around an acceptance letter, I hope to see myself coming out of this program as an even more empowered and proud learner, ready for the next challenge life throws at me.
Diving Gloves-first into Lab
July 9, 2023
It seems that the days have whizzed by, as we are now a month past when we first entered the Fox Chase community! In the past three weeks, my mentor and I have been doing nothing less than making the most out of our time. We spent many hours at the facility reviewing a number of crucial techniques that were necessary for our project. Whether it was making elementary diluted solutions or fostering a colony of baby fibroblast cell lines, I have been stowing many valuable techniques under my belt. The month of June has been a whirlwind of experiences, especially with how vast the world of cancer research is. The time has taught me that the ongoings at Fox Chase are not for the particularly weak or strong, but for those that are persistent and willing to make mistakes and inherently undergo lessons to learn.
Within my project especially, the aforementioned statement holds true. Mariia (my mentor) and I are paving a new way to isolate and analyze proteins indicative of pancreatic cancer advancement. This involves deriving and purifying extracellular vesicles from plasma samples in hopes of a future liquid biopsy protocol. It has been difficult trying to have our proteins of interest appear on the Western blot, and we plan to start our long, tedious process again next week. However, with great responsibility comes great power, and by learning about the role I take as a cancer researcher in the Cukierman lab, I feel empowered as an academic student. < 
Despite Mariia and I going through a respectable number of face-palm or cold-sweat moments in both my training and our actual protocol (as shown by the hilarious image taken while I was depositing Western blot samples), the successes, such as our prospering cell lines and Western blot staining, have been a new sensation of relief and achievement! I am more than excited to see where our results will continue to take me by the end of the summer!
As for experiences outside of the Cukierman lab, I have been making new friendships through this program. The past few weeks have allowed all of us to meet together for movies, brownies, and other activities either at Oak Summit or in the city itself. I am happy with all the bonding opportunities that I have been offered. We are all growing together at Fox Chase, and we hope to make a stop by an amusement park together before the end of our time here!
A Summer for the Books
August 23, 2023
The past three months have been a blur of culture media that resembled forbidden fruit punch, illegible scribbles that were supposed to be my notes, and stuttering to my computer monitor at 2 AM to practice my presentation. Since my last blog, my lab work’s intensity increased ten-fold as I was trying to get as much out of my summer as possible. I made mistake after mistake, like shredding my gel down the middle or spilling my tube of cells that I have been culturing for three days straight. What made it worse was that, going into the program, I had believed my previous lab experience along with (what I thought was) my carefulness and diligence would make this program a piece of cake.
However, despite all these hardships, I realized that the warm months I have spent at the Fox Chase Cancer Center would be some of the most life-changing months of my academic career. From the moment the Western Blot film dropped out of the developing machine with clear, beautiful bands, to the mic-drop ending of my presentation, I had a billion reasons to be proud of myself and absolutely every good and bad experience I went through this summer.
For example, by committing myself to perseverance and openness to feedback, I was able to understand and perform some of the most universal and crucial laboratory techniques in cancer research. As per my mentor Mariia’s instruction, I managed to grow and maintain a culture of pancreatic cancer-associated fibroblasts over the course of several weeks. Every day, I came into the lab ready to take care of what Mariia liked to call “my babies”; this meant I checked them daily, changed their “diapers” (as I liked to call it) by switching out culture media, and provided them new “homes” (or cell flasks) when they became too populated. It was true that some of my fibroblasts were unable to persevere or were being uncooperative, but nevertheless I was a proud cell parent. I also learned how to do a Western Blot, which was a result of inarguably one of the hardest but most rewarding weeks I have ever had. Throughout my schooling, I always thought devoting the hours between 9 AM to 5 PM was the most I was willing and needing to do, but time slipped quickly that week. Before I knew it, I was willingly staying there till the late evening, waiting for my membranes to finish incubating or organizing them to be visualized onto film. The many mistakes I made drastically molded and improved my work ethic and motivation, and with all the things I have learned from myself and others this summer, I know I am prepared to face the numerous semesters and challenges I have ahead of me.
Another achievement this summer was completing and presenting my project, Standardizing Vesicle-Based Screening for Stromal Biomarkers in Pancreatic Cancer. The initial goal was to set conditions for the protocols used in order to pave the way for an early detection method for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). With this detection method, Mariia and I aimed to use human plasma samples, but wanted to test run it with conditioned media from a cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) culture. These fibroblasts were seeded into well plates, then supported with ascorbic acid and culture media. After nearly a week of this routine, I set them into microscope slides for immunofluorescence and collected conditioned media. The immunofluorescence unfortunately and frustratingly was unsuccessful, as my cells often passed away or formed poor 3D matrices. However, I was able to run Western Blots with my conditioned media to find both my pro-tumorigenic proteins of interest, Netrin G1 and Integrinα5β1, and the extracellular vesicle (EVs) biomarkers, CD81 and HXK1. The resulting bands at the predicted molecular weight revealed the proteins and the EVs that carry them do exist within CAF conditioned media, and therefore by performing the same protocols under the same standards, my lab can proceed with plasma samples. The Cukierman lab hopes to perfect a sequence of methods so that clinicians can offer patients displaying PDAC symptoms more knowledge about their health.
When I remember the day of the research symposium, I recall being beyond nervous and exhausted from preparing my presentation and incorporating a never-ending flow of new ideas from coworkers and friends. However, when I saw Mariia and Dr. Cukierman’s smiling faces, the proud expressions of my family members, and the encouraging looks from my peers, the words came out naturally and the presentation was over in the blink of an eye. The question session was engaging and fun, and I exited the Fox Chase building for the last time with a grin on my face and a plushie from the gift shop. This summer has left me feeling blessed and grateful for many things. To my friends and family, I owe them a million thanks for supporting and believing in me. The daily check-ins from my parents and my outings with friends kept me focused and determined. To the Cukierman lab, I appreciate all the fun conversations, useful life advice, and answers to my silly questions about sterilization. To all the organizers and sponsors, I will never forget all the hard work you put in to make the students feel heard and appreciated. To my mentor, Mariia, thank you for helping and pushing me to grow into my academically best self, and to the Fox Chase community, thank you for gifting me a wonderfully challenging and enriching summer!