Tristan Lee Freeman, the science guy!

So, the veterans are working together on this one. =) This is Tristan. He's a summer II SEED student and he is a senior at Pittsburgh Carrick High School. We've gotten to work with him over the past two summers and believe me, it has been fun. Last year, his project was pretty interesting but, we seem to like his project this year better. We've gotten to spend a good bit of time just hanging out in the lab with him and see what he does.

This year, Tristan is continuing off of last years project. He is using droplet-based microfluidics to create continuous droplet flow using oil and aqueous phases. He is applying ratios to achieve this droplet flow.

In this picture, Tristan is looking into a microscope at a PDMS chip and analyzing the microdroplets flowing through the channel that is chemically etched into the chip. The droplets are formed from t-junction of the aqueous and oil phase. Tristan sets ratios in attempt to achieve the droplet flow that may or may not be successful.

Sydney Burkholder the Magnificent!

I've been working with Sydney for these past two summers and it's certainly been exciting if nothing else. Since Sydney worked upstairs in the pharmaceutical department so I never really saw her work environment. Until this year when I ventured her room. It looked just like our chemistry labs. Looks like all science is just messy.





In this picture, Sydney is pipeting cells and splitting them among 35 mm plates. She's doing this to be able to treat the cells with different concentrations of novel compounds. Once all the plates are treated, Sydney will lyse the cells. This allows her to eventually run a protein assay and a western blot analysis.



Sydney's project involves a very serious problem, Breast Cancer, which is a leading cause of death particularly involving women. She works exclusively with Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (ERK5)an understanding it's role in breast cancer research. Hopefully, advancements in this research can lead to possible therapies in breast cancer.






















As you can see, Sydney's work is not only intriguing but important as well. And her work has certainly helped the ongoing progress of breast cancer research. Great job!

Finally, some results!

So after 6 weeks of hard work, I got some results out of the numbers that were being stored on the computer. I learned how to extract the numbers, and how to chart them on an excel spreadsheet. What I'm finding in these supplements is really shocking. How could a company not know they're putting things like arsenic and mercury into their supplements?! The numbers and results always give me a little ego boost, because I did all of the work to get those numbers, and it's a nice reward. Sometimes you don't see where the hard work goes, but this time I did. Everybody at the symposium was really impressed with my work, including my principal, Melanie Kerber, and my superintendent Fran Serenka. They were also impressed with the fact that I'm a high school student. All the research is real, and I'm sorry to say but when exploring the symposium posters on my free time, I saw some displays that were worse than those ones of the high school students. What a shame.

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Guys, we hit 1000 blog views! Awesome! :)

First Presentation!

Today, Tristan, Sydney, & I presented at the group meeting. I'd say we all did pretty good, considering we haven't touched this stuff in a year. (Maybe we should have...) I hope the new kids got a good idea of what to do when they present. Everyone is going to ask questions, it's just a matter of knowing your stuff. :) I suppose us SEED II kids should get used to presenting, because we're going to be doing it in Boston in 2 months! I can't wait!

Back to Work

Well, it's back to the lab again for SEED II students. Back to the old 8 to 5 routine. Last year was a great experience and I'm looking forward to another great year at Duquesne. It's nice to recognize the old faces, and welcome the new ones as well. I should be starting my research soon, and there's lots more to be done with my professor. Today we are going to safety training, and after that I'll probably start refreshing my memory with my group. It's going to be a good year. The ACS meeting in Boston is what I think I'm looking forward to the most. Us SEED II students are going to have a blast with Mr. Lucas. Can't wait to see what kind of blog challenges we'll have this year!

-Amanda Anderson

Here I Sit In The Good Old Computer Lab...

Friday evening, I'm sitting in the computer lab. I still have to return my key for the year, and go visit some offices. I finally finished this paper that I've been stressing over for the past two weeks. I always worked better under stress anyway. I figure that I'm about to post the last post for this year of SEED. Everyone from the group has already left the building. When I first applied for this thing, I had no idea what I was getting into. Some high school girl from some podunk town where nothing happens, except for the occasional robbery. I wrote emails to all my mentors, and anyone important, for that matter. Leaving here feels like I'm giving back everything I did this summer. All the hard work, the sweat, the blood... okay, maybe not the blood. I never imagined I'd actually be doing this. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be working with machines over one million dollars in my junior year of high school. I can't believe I almost didn't do this! This helped me advance a bunch of my skills, also. Mr. Lucas always told me, "Talk! Ask questions! That's how you get oppurtunities!" So I talked, sometimes, and I did make a new friend. We had a bunch of laughs, but we had our serious times too. There is time for work, and there is time for play. We knew the difference. I made a new friend, who is an incredible kid. I hope we get some new kids in next year too! Last year, I didn't have a thought about college. It was the farthest thing from my mind. I was much more worried about the next dance, and the boy next door. This program definitely taught me that the time to plan for your future is now! When I tell kids that I put myself up to 8 weeks of summer research at a college, I always get a funny look. Even after I tell them I was paid $10 an hour, they still think I'm insane. I know that this is going to make my future an incredibly bright one. Having this experience will change my life, I know it. I can feel it. My professor was amazing, and I had a ball. The last thing I have to do is return my key. But that's okay, because I know I'll be getting it back next year.

URP Symposium

Finally, all the hard work is rewarded! Friday I came to Duquesne and presented my poster at the Undergraduate Research Program Symposium. First, the group went to watch some undergrads present their posters to a room full of people. Most of the presentations were really interesting, and I understood what they worked on this summer. Those students really knew their stuff! Later on, Naudia (the undergrad I'm working with) and I stood by our poster for about an hour, while people walked around and asked questions about it. Many people seemed to be interested in our poster, particularly. Even after I left, I still had people chasing me and asking me questions! For the most part, it was pretty simple. I only had one tough cookie, as far as questions and remarks go, but after she found out I was in high school, she was really surprised. The symposium revealed to me that I truly am doing college work. SEED is really opening doors for me, and I'm starting to really see that. I believe I'm going to have a future compiled of hard work and success. Speaking of hard work, my last two weeks here are going to be filled with paper writing and presentation making... Better get to work!

Presenting To The Group...

Today, I presented my powerpoint to the whole group! I was so nervous about not having it done, or not knowing what to say. After it was over with, I felt so confident about my work. I got through it and didn't stumble on many things. Unbelievable. It made me feel good that I know why I'm doing this project. About a week ago I was ready to quit. I was so tired, frustrated, and stressed out. I couldn't take it anymore. My whole family kept telling me, "It's okay if you quit. If it's too hard, you don't have to do it if you don't want to." I knew I wanted to do it. This is something I've kept my eye on since freshman year. I know it's something that's going to change my future for the better, which is why I decided to stick with it. Posters for the symposium have to be done by Friday. What am I going to do?? That's three days to construct a poster. And I thought I was stressed last week?! 3 weeks, 3 days left of SEED. Wow, summer's almost over.

Challenge #2: Interviews

So, I decided to take on another challenge. I interviewed Dr. H.M. “Skip” Kingston and Dr. Mitch Johnson.

Dr. Kingston grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He went to a high school called Central Dolphin, in the suburbs of Harrisburg. He said that high school was very difficult because in 11th grade, he was diagnosed with acute dyslexia. He told me that he always knew he wanted to go in to the chemistry field, but he said his first professor was a great influence on his career. After he took analytical chemistry, when going for his bachelor’s degree, he fell in love with the subject. Dr. Kingston said that undergrad school was fun, and challenging. He went to the military, Harrisburg Community College, Millersville, and attended IUP to be his grandmother’s nurse while finishing his master’s and bachelor’s. He said that grad school was even better, and he mentioned that he was a dual major. He earned 2 PhDs, in Analytical and Biological Chemistry and Environmental Science and Management. He believes that he succeeded purely because he loves what he does. His wife diagnosed him with ‘terminal curiosity.’ He said that a successful scientist is willing to put in hard work, must have discipline, and the desire to seek answers. When I asked him about regrets, he told me he regretted something that wasn’t really under his control. He said he regretted not being diagnosed with dyslexia sooner, because he thinks that it would’ve helped him in high school. He told me that he needed to know why he was different, and being diagnosed helped him cope. He said that his biggest accomplishment was getting the Radon Laws to be passed. He worked on it for 18 months before they were passed by Congress. Apparently, they save 45,000 people from bronchial cancer every year. Finally, I asked him what his biggest personal reward he got out of his career and he said, “Watching my students succeed.”

Dr. Johnson was raised in Racing, Wisconsin. He attended Racing Lutheran High School. He said that high school was alright and that he had some decent teachers. Dr. Johnson told me that he went to school for architectural drafting, but it wasn’t what he was expecting, so he changed his major to something he had more of a knack for. Undergrad school, he said, was fun, considering he went to the University of Miami. He told me that grad school was purely chemistry and close related things. He said that he made a bunch of close friends, and that everything got harder as he moved on. I asked him about success and he said, “It depends on what you mean by success. Money doesn’t always mean you’re successful.” He thinks he succeeded because he is willing to do the hard work. He believes that a career should be something you stick with, something you’re going to do for your life, not just something to do for money. “You have to ask yourself, are you truly happy doing this?” I asked Dr. Johnson what his biggest regret, and he told me, “No regrets. None at all. You make your choices and you have to live with them.” When I asked Mitch what his biggest accomplishment, it tied in with his biggest personal goal. He said that when he mentors grad students, and watches them grow as they learn, it’s very satisfying. “It’s nice to see the difference that you’ve made in these kids.”

When interviewing these professors, they both said success results from some related things; hard work, discipline, passion, commitment, dedication, and a good work ethic. It’s so cliché, but it’s something that I will take with me for the rest of my life. They also had some of the same personal satisfactions. They both said that they love to watch their students succeed. I think that is a great quality for a professor, or any teacher for that matter, to have. Knowing a teacher cares about you and your future is an incredible thought. Duquesne is pretty amazing, and their professors are too.