Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
This summer, I had the privilege to work as an intern in Professor Domenico Tortorella’s Immunology Laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital’s Icahn School of Medicine. The opportunity itself was a blessing that came out of nowhere. In previous years, I have been working at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, conducting leukemia research as an intern there. Wanting to branch out to other fields of medicine, I began looking for labs and corporations in my hometown of San Diego, along with the cities of New York and Boston, where I had close family and friends nearby. To my delight, I reconnected with an old family friend—Dr. Jeffrey Jhang, an administrative doctor who works at Mount Sinai Hospital and he connected me with Professor Tortorella. Quite literally, ex nihilo, I found an opportunity very well coveted by many others in the field.
Professor Tortorella’s laboratory researches how viruses are able to evade immune detection in the body, therefore compromising the body of its immune functions and allowing other diseases and bacteria to invade the body. In order to address this large-scale issue, Professor Tortorella’s laboratory focuses on the human cytomegalovirus infection (HCMV), a model lifelong viral infection that avoids the immune system by interfering with molecules in the body that detect such viruses.
Specific to my project, my task was to be responsible for epitope mapping monoclonal antibodies that neutralize an HCMV infection. In layman terms, I was in charge of helping to design an antibody that immune cells could release that would target the aforementioned specific markers found on the cell surface of the HCMV virus. Upon detection, the antibody would bind to the protein structure of the virus, and then begin to degrade the protein makeup and structure of the virus.
As a microbiology lab intern, I was responsible for carrying out standard procedures such as DNA extraction, DNA ligation, Polymerase Chain Reaction, cell culturing, media and reagent preparation, and antibiotic be “cut” open by enzymes assay and assessment. One particularly interesting new technique that I learned was actually a technique called infusion cloning. In previous years, I had utilized a technique called restriction enzyme cloning in order to insert my desired genes into the DNA vector. Infusion cloning actually streamlines the whole process by using one universal “Infusion Enzyme,” taking away that need for specific restriction enzyme cutting at specific restriction sites. This new procedure was so eye-opening for me, but actually was a delight to use, as I did not have to worry about ever troubleshooting as to whether I used the right restriction enzyme or not.
What was very interesting about my internship was that there were many other academic programs in lieu of all the experimentation, because Mount Sinai Icahn is a school of medicine catering to researchers, graduate students, and medical students alike. As a result, our immunology department held many different events on a weekly basis, which were open to undergraduate interns like me. During lunch time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, guest speakers were invited to share their research on topics pertinent to immunology, not just in the realm of biological research, but even in the business aspect, ethical aspect, and sociological aspect. Tuesdays and Thursdays, the department held dissertation defenses and poster presentations for students preparing for conferences and other symposiums. One week, I even had the opportunity to attend a Toxicology symposium on the ethics of the lately controversial CRISPR technique.
Working and learning at Mount Sinai gave me much more appreciation for time efficiency and a deeper hunger for learning in the biology field, especially in current research. As I prepare to finish my senior year at Williams, I look forward particularly for the laboratory and journal analyzation sessions, eager to gain more knowledge and skills in my craft.
As much of an amazing opportunity I had with my laboratory and Icahn School of Medicine, I realized how lonely and self-absorbing working in the laboratory can get. I realized that as much as I enjoy working in the lab and conducting microbiology research, I would go crazy looking at cells at a laboratory bench for nine hours a day and then going home without really communicating with anyone or anything but my cells. Without the support and comradery of Williams alumni, my church community in Westchester County, and fellow Williams students working in the vicinity, I would have felt very lacking throughout the entire internship. I think that above all my career aspirations and wishes to attend certain academic and medical institutions in the future, I care most deeply that I’d have a community out there that would support me and ultimately be more than willing to live life with me, above all else.
Overall, I think that this summer’s internship at Icahn School of Medicine has been one of the most thoughtful and introspective experiences in my college career. I gained even more knowledge and skill in being an effective learner and researcher and learned more about my own personal preferences and personalities. Through the grace of all my mistakes and learning experiences both in and out of the laboratory, I feel all the more supported and confident of the careers I would like to pursue in the future. First and foremost, I truly thank God for a truly transformative experience that could not have happened on my own. I am also so grateful to the ’68 Center for Career Exploration and the Class of 1974, for supporting all aspects of my summer internship and for believing in my ability to pursue and excel in my field.
Megamenu Social