Name: Frank Monney
Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Uconn Health
Position Title: Research Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s): Biological Sciences
Expected Graduation Year: August 2016
Briefly describe your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.
As part of my research position at Uconn health, we had 4 days of research and a day of medical shadowing. I was working in the department of Molecular Biology and Biophysics in Dr. Korzhnev lab and my mentor was a second year graduate student Alex Rizzo. Briefly, my project consisted of finding the interaction between TLS DNA Polymerases and PCNA (Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen) which is a DNA-sliding clamp very involved in DNA replication processes. We used Rev1 as TLS polymerase and finding that interaction with PCNA would be a great target for drug design purposes because the majority of mutations in cells is caused by TLS polymerases. Every day, I would go my lab and grow bacteria tagged with our proteins of interest, then isolate and purify the proteins for NMR sampling.Adjusting the conditions in which the proteins were being grown, gave us a great deal of flexibility in order to determine the the true conditions that would allow that protein interaction.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
To obtain my research, I attended a seminar at UMBC "How to get started in research". After that, they had a follow up meeting to talk about how to navigate the research page and how to find useful links. After that, I did my personal research and applied to a couple of research sites. I later went to the Career center to polish my resume, and get it approved for UMBCworks. I had also started contacting professors early in the process for recommendation letters which I received in a timely manner.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
I really enjoyed the connections. Besides the amazing research experience and the eye-opening shadowing opportunities, I really enjoyed the connections both professional and casual. Through my experience at UConn Health, I shadowed Dr. Zempsky a doctor specialized in sickle cell anemia and pain management. At the end of the program, he said he would connect me with one of his colleague at John Hopkins University for possible research/shadowing opportunities. I also made some friends in Connecticut. In the lab I worked with, I met a first year medical student (Ted). He introduced me to his friends, we got to learn about one another and they were all willing to give me counsel.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
The bigger picture of my project is hoping to being able to design better cancer therapies via cells that avoid chemoresistance. At the end of the summer rotation, we presented our projects at a poster presentation and I received some great feedback. Looking at the interaction between Rev1 and PCNA, we found the results that we expected. At Ph 7 and at different mole ratios we noticed that there is change in chemical environment around peaks of the proteins using NMR spectroscopy. Although I won't be able to work on my project this fall, I am incredibly proud of what I accomplished with the help of my amazing mentor, (Alex Rizzo), my PI, Dr Korzhnev. Moving forward in finding the true interaction site of the proteins, I know that I contributed something to this project and helped take one small yet significant step towards containing cancer/tumor growths.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
For anyone looking to do something similar, I would say first and foremost, go with an open mind. It is amazing how much you can absorb when you leave your mind to be attracted to different things. As far of the research goes, attending the seminar at UMBC was of great help. Further down the application process, I would recommend contacting professors for recommendation letters very early. Through the whole process, be very thorough and persistent, don't take no for an answer and do not be discouraged. There is always someone that can provide guidance you at UMBC.
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