Brigham and Women’s Hospital, The Ebert Laboratory, Boston, MA
This summer, I was fortunate enough to secure an internship in a Brigham and Women’s Hospital laboratory created by Williams alumnus Benjamin Ebert ’92. This was a Hematology and Medical Oncology laboratory where I worked under the direct mentorship of Williams alumnus Ellen Beauchamp ’12, along with many other Williams alumni.
The Ebert Lab is a rather big lab with many postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and lab technicians. The whole lab focuses their research on the understanding and possible treatment of many blood disorders, including myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and a recently discovered pre-malignant state termed clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP). Going into the summer, I knew that I wanted to find a research position that allowed me to further my knowledge of stem cells. I felt that finding a lab that studied stem cells would be both the perfect learning opportunity as well as a way to dip my toes into research waters. When I heard about what this lab did, and after I was offered the internship, I was ecstatic.
In the weeks leading up to my start date, as well as the first week or so, Ellen spent a great deal of time explaining her research to me, answering my myriad of questions, providing me with incredibly helpful journal articles published from the lab, and walking me through her experimental design. What she was working on was CHIP; basically, what happens in this pre-malignant state in blood is that a stem cell in the bone marrow acquires a random “initiator mutation” in a certain gene. This mutation prevents the cell from differentiating into a mature blood cell; however, this cell’s ability to proliferate is unaffected, so this mutated cell continues to divide until its progeny become a large fraction of the total stem cell compartment. This leads to many problems as old blood cells die and aren’t turned over, as well as tumor formation from the undifferentiated cells. This work is absolutely critical, especially because chances of developing CHIP, MDS, and AML all increase with age. Trying to understand the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of the cellular mechanistic failures, along with working towards developing treatments and screens for these diseases could directly increase the health of our society in the future. I think that the greatest thing about working on CHIP specifically was that it could fall in the category of preventative medicine, instead of curative medicine; this research could help identify a broader population of at-risk patients and lead to easier treatment options and/or simpler lifestyle changes.
Throughout my internship, Ellen and I performed experiments and analyzed data from live mouse samples and human cancer cell lines for a novel initiator gene. After talking with the other undergrads, I found that Ellen’s method of mentorship was well suited for me; she would always train me on a task as I observed and took notes, constantly explaining along the way what and why she was doing certain steps. Then she would leave me to my own devices, being readily available in case I had an issue or needed to clarify something. This allowed me to feel comfortable and confident with the equipment and techniques while also feeling independent and helpful.
Something that genuinely surprised me about the lab was the incredible social aspect of it. I came into the lab believing the stereotype that researchers tend to be more reserved, to do their work in solitude, and go home at the end of the day. I was amazed, however, to found out about lab happy hours, constant celebratory lunches/dinners, and big standout Ben Ebert’s clambake house party. It was apparent from the first week that most of the members of the lab were friends that went out together and enjoyed being in each other’s company in and out of work. This sense of community fostered an easy-going, fun lab environment that made any particularly repetitive task manageable. From the lab techs all the way up to Ben himself, everyone wanted to make sure that I was fitting in ok with the group and was enjoying myself and my time in the lab, which I am lucky enough to say I did.
Over the course of my eight weeks, I learned many lab skills including preparing and running Western blots, extracting and purifying DNA and RNA, amplifying pieces of DNA, making virus to infect host cells with CRISPR/Cas9 editing machinery, as well as lab tasks such as refilling ethanol containers, autoclaving plastics, and cleaning the instruments, to name a few. Along with Ellen’s help, I was relieved by how receptive everyone in the lab was, from helping me find a meeting room, to showing me how to run the PCR machine, to providing me insight into what they did to get to where they were. I think the latter was an unexpected highlight from this experience; I finally got a broader picture of my choices after Williams. Going into college, I was pretty set on medical school; however, the prospect of conducting research that could lead to breakthroughs positively affecting the lives of patients was always intriguing, but uncertain. I didn’t know what a career as a researcher entailed: what schooling would look like, what jobs paths were possible after graduate school, etc. After my conversations with Ellen, a current graduate student soon to defend her thesis, multiple postdocs and MD/Ph.D.’s, and lab technicians applying for medical school, I was able to get a thorough picture of the many different directions I could go in the vast field of medicine. From this picture and my experience at this lab, I now realize I wouldn’t be able to solely do research for a living, but that pursing an MD/Ph.D. would allow me to become a practicing physician, while also providing me with a Ph.D. with which I could do intriguing research. Due to this internship, I not only learned many hard lab skills that I can put to good use in my multitude of future Division 3 lab courses, but also was able to broaden my prospective horizons and focus towards a new goal that I would no doubt find more appealing than what I had planned.
For everything I have learned, for the environment I was fortunate enough to be a part of, and for this entire opportunity, I have many people to thank. First and foremost, I would like to thank Williams alumnus Cecilia Castellano ’16 for being so essential throughout my whole experience, from helping me secure the internship to assisting me around the lab. I would like to thank Marie McConkey and everyone else in the Ebert lab who welcomed me with open arms and made me feel comfortable from day one. A huge thank you to Benjamin Ebert who took time to meet with me personally when I joined the lab and who made sure that I was having both a good educational and social experience in the lab. I greatly appreciate the Class of 1972 and the Williams College ’68 Center for Career Exploration for financially supporting me to make this internship possible. And finally, to Ellen Beauchamp, thank you for fielding my numerous questions, for accepting my myriad of Western transfer failures, for pretending to like that can of chicken soup. I can’t express how much I appreciate your patience and your education. Thank you.
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