Last Friday, I finished my final week at the Fuccillo lab. During my last week, I cut one last C57 Wildtype brain and performed immune staining on it. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish off the molecular cloning project because we are having the same issue with the final step for both the hSyn-hm3D-2a-smRuby-V5-pA construct and the hSyn-ReaChr-2a-smRubyMyc-pA construct. Hopefully, Dr. Fuccillo, or Marc as I am now able to call him, and Felicia will be able to resolve the problem and complete these last two constructs for viral transfection. The three of us will keep in contact about the cloning project via email.
On Friday, our lab had a visitor named Ronnie, a student who just graduated from Brown University and is currently working at Dr. Chris Moore's neuroscience lab at Brown. Ronnie came to visit our lab to learn more about electrophysiology from our postdocs and also to see what kind of research our lab is performing. I was surprised to learn that Ronnie is diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder involving repetitive movements or involuntary, unwanted sounds (for example abrupt yelling or moaning) called tics. Currently, there is no cure for this disorder, and it can last for years or even be lifelong. These symptoms of Tourette’s can be debilitating for the patient and can troublesomely interfere with his or her daily life. It really inspired me to see that someone with a neurological disorder is pursuing a career in neuroscience and that instead of allowing the disorder to overtake his life, Ronnie is actively battling against Tourette’s through the path of research.
Before I left on Friday, Marc chatted with me to do some last minute debriefing and to give me some college and life advice that I thought I would share with you guys. Regarding the college application process, Marc reminded me to not utterly stress out and that rejections from colleges are not the end of the world. One piece of life advice he mentioned that really resonated with me was that in the future, I will notice that each person has one particular quality that sticks out. For example, I will find that some people are extremely efficient while others are very hardworking and diligent. Marc explained to me that in the end, it is characteristics such as efficiency, grit and perseverance that lead to success and not necessarily ‘intelligence’ on its own. From working at the Fuccillo lab this summer, I feel that I have gained more grit and persistence from working longer hours to troubleshoot failed experiments (and to fix my mistakes), and I have learned to not give up in face of those blunders and failures. I have come to fully understand how true failure lies not in falling itself, but in being unable to pick yourself up after falling.
It still amazes me how close I became with everyone in the lab within these 7 weeks. I even became quite close with some members of the neighboring labs. These people became not only my mentors but also my friends. When I said goodbye to all of them on Friday, they came to hug me, and it was a surprisingly emotional farewell. We plan on having a celebratory lunch later in August, so I will get to see all my lab members one more time before the school year starts.
I would like to thank everyone in my lab, particularly Marc and Felicia, for allowing me to have such a great experience this summer, for teaching me so much, and for being so patient and kind to me. I would also like to thank Dr. Venanzi and Dr. Peretz for introducing me to such a wonderful research opportunity. In addition to expressing willingness to have other Peddie students in his lab in the future, Marc has also invited me to come back to the Fuccillo lab next year if I would like to return again, so perhaps I will see all my lab members again next summer.
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