I am an upcoming graduate of UC San Diego (class of 2020) in Revelle College, majoring in Biochemistry and Cell Biology as well as Economics.
2020, Revelle, Biochemistry and Cell Biology / Economics
My area of research is cancer immunology and I work in Dr. Michael Karin’s lab. My research project specifically is to understand the mechanisms of chemoimmunotherapy.
Conducting research has always been something that I wanted to try out. I believe that whether I enjoy the process or not, it would be a great experience regardless. Unfortunately, my high school did not have the resources for students to get involved in basic biology research. Therefore, I sought to utilize the resources here at UC San Diego.
I looked through for openings on REAL portal and Handshake and applied to several positions. After interviewing with several PIs, I was very interested by the projects that my current PI had and eventually decided to work an immunology lab.
Our lab, although not completely shut down, is currently on a schedule with reduced personnel. Therefore, I am doing most of my work remotely, such as data analysis and paper writing. I go into the lab as little as possible, only for the essential experiments.
I was fortunate enough to acquire a good amount of data before the quarantine started, so I used this time to focus on analyzing the data that I already have.
I am using this quarantine time to pick up some skills that I had no time for. I started to continue learning Japanese because I have not been learning much after my study abroad year in Tokyo. I also had the time to better my cooking and baking skills at home.
I am accepted into the Immunology Ph.D. program at University of Chicago. I hope the rigorous training there can further motive me to achieve more.
Are you interested in undergraduate research and/or scholarship opportunities like this one? Contact UR to learn more.