URP Perspectives

Keisha John
URP 2003 with Dr. Holly Cline
Watson School of Biological Sciences
Entering Class of 2004

There are many reasons why I enjoyed my URP experience at CSHL. First the participants were from all over the world, making for a very diverse learning experience. Also the scientists at the Lab are really excited about science, a trait that is very contagious and makes the working environment all the more rewarding. In addition everyone is very friendly and welcoming, from the first day I felt like I was part of the Lab and not just a summer visitor. The location is also excellent, enabling me to participate in many non-science activities, from Sunday night movies, shopping at outlet malls, or a night in the city at the theater and seeing my favorite artist in concert. I enjoyed my time at CSHL so much so that I am returning as a graduate student in the Watson School of Biological Sciences. I would recommend this program to anyone who is looking for a unique and exciting summer experience that will facilitate both scientific and personal growth.

Chuck Kopec
URP 2000 with Dr. Rob Martienssen
Watson School of Biological Sciences
Entering Class of 2001

The summer of 2000, between my junior and senior years at Rutgers University, I spent as an URP in the lab of Dr. Rob Martienssen. Not knowing what to expect from the program, and with only a few months research experience, I went into that summer with an open mind and an excitement to learn. The URP program turned out to provide everything I could have hoped for and more. First and foremost was the cutting edge research being conducted at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in which all URPs participate. The resources available to you far surpass most large universities, while still maintaining the friendly atmosphere of a small research institute. With PIs and postdocs willing to take the time to teach me the bench techniques I needed for my project, I came away with invaluable skills I was able to apply to my undergraduate thesis project. I still carry those skills with me as I enter my fourth year at the Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Finally though, it was the other URPs that made the summer so memorable. From evening social events to sailing on the weekends, that was a summer I will not soon forget.

Galen Collins
URP 2003 with Dr. Marja Timmermans
Watson School of Biological Sciences
Entering Class of 2004

One of the most important parts about being an URP at CSHL was the chance to learn what it meant to be a biologist. When I started, I thought that I liked research, but I had only limited exposure to it. By the time that I had finished at CSHL that summer, I had a much better sense of what it meant to do biology – I had lived it and I had lived with others who lived it. The research done at CSHL is exciting, and I learned a lot from the presentations that different laboratory groups gave. The lab I worked in was very good, with my research mentor spending enough time to ensure that I could understand the project beyond just the procedural steps to where this work fitted in to broader picture of biology. At the bench itself, other members of the lab worked to teach tips for better experimental success through both the design and the execution of the experiments. I was very fortunate to be working in one of the same buildings that the courses were held in because I was thereby exposed to a lot of special speakers and also the students (who are often postdocs or young professors just starting the lab). This was a great way to become exposed to exciting ideas, and different ways that science is done at other places. Finally, I learned a lot from my fellow URPS: excitement in sharing the latest results, commiseration over strings of failed experiments, parties, volleyball, or sailing.

Elizabeth Thomas
URP 1997 with Dr. Adrian Krainer
Watson School of Biological Sciences
Entering Class of 1999

In the summer of 1997, I was an URP at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. I worked in Adrian Krainer's lab in Demerec, running countless splicing assays and writing a web page. What I enjoyed about that summer was the sense of scientific community. Everybody at CSHL felt passionate about biology. This common thread ran through all of the Lab's functions. The Lab is isolated, an entity unto itself. It felt like a summer camp for scientists æ with its concentration of brilliant people, all tremendously excited about their studies, all living and working in a small area.

Yet another characteristic of CSHL is its unique place in the history of molecular biology. I did my undergraduate research on bacteriophage T4. It feels "right" somehow to return for my graduate work to the site of the historic phage course. The opening of the Watson School of Biological Sciences was another historical event at this historical place.

Along with its unusual characteristics, CSHL also excels in traditional areas. The research is excellent and exciting. The environment of the lab is wonderful, and I enjoyed the same sense of community during my graduate studies that I experienced as an URP. In short, I am exceedingly happy to be among the first class of graduates at CSHL's Watson School of Biological Sciences.

Gowan Tervo
URP 2000 with Dr. Tony Zador
Watson School of Biological Sciences
Entering Class of 2001

As an undergraduate from Oxford University, without laboratory experience and an emerging interest in neuroscience, I was thrilled to be accepted to the URP program at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for the summer of 2000. For three months, I studied audition in Tony Zador’s laboratory. We examined the hypothesis that the action potentials of single auditory cortical neurons represent pitch, the set of harmonic tones that make-up a note. Tony, an excellent postdoc, Michael DeWeese, and I set out to test this idea: we built the necessary equipment, designed the experiment, and wrote the necessary software to execute the experiment and to analyze our results.

After three months in this intense environment, it was difficult to leave Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The lifestyle at the lab immerses you in your work. As an URP, I enjoyed walking down to the beach from the Zador lab between experiments to listen to many birds; an activity that was important to me at the time because of the focus of my research. After each afternoon’s experiments, I had the pleasure of having dinner with the many scientists in Marks building. During these dinner-time discussions in Blackford dining hall I learned as much neuroscience as I had learned by focused study in my previous neuroscience course at Oxford. The combination of the natural beauty of the laboratory, the frenetic pace of research and the close interaction with my colleagues is the reason that I am here today as a graduate student in the Watson School of Biological Sciences.

Despina Siolas
URP 2000 with Dr. Greg Hannon
Stony Brook University Medical Scientist (MD/PhD) Training Program

My summer in the URP program fostered my development as a scientist in an environment that also contributed to my personal growth. I had the opportunity to participate in post-graduate CSH courses, hear lectures by world-renown scientists and explore biology in a lab where I worked one and one with my professor. I was also able to participate in lab sponsored social activities such as sailing and beach volleyball. My undergraduate colleagues and I bonded through our summer and formed a social support system that helped us through the trials and tribulations of graduating college and applying to graduate schools. Our bond has continued to this day where we see each other at professional conferences and seminars.

Hiroki Asari
URP 2002 with Dr. Masaaki Hamaguchi
Watson School of Biological Sciences
Entering Class of 2003

The summer of 2002 turned out to be a major milestone in my life so far. I was so impressed with life as an ‘URP’ at CSHL, and it was this experience that made me decide to return here as a graduate student. One of the great things about the UPR program was that the students were internationally diverse with various backgrounds. Because we lived together in the cabins on campus, we quickly got to know each other very well and I learned a lot from my fellow URPs as well as the PIs from sharing our exciting research experiences, ideas, and the results. Another good thing was that the Lab is isolated from the bustle of the city. We can sit back in a quiet and calm environment or stroll through the Lab grounds thinking about science and come up with some new creative ideas. Finally, in addition to science, I also enjoyed the social activities: movies in Huntington Village, Broadway shows and great museums in Manhattan, and so on. CSHL offers a perfect environment to enjoy both science and life. As a result, I strongly recommend the URP program to all students who are interested in science and want to experience a summer among scientists.

Oleg Dmytrenko
URP 2006 with Dr. Dave Jackson
Watson School of Biological Sciences

I came to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for the Undergraduate Research Program with a solid background in microbiology, biochemistry, and cell biology. I came with a lot of confidence. My summer project, it turned out, was mapping a gene in Arabidopsis thaliana. I had never before worked with plants, neither done positional cloning, nor dealt with Mendelian genetics. This project was not anymore a test of my knowledge as it used to be back at the university. It became a test of my ability to think and to work like a scientist, a test to find out whether science is what I really want to do for life. I knew that following lab manuals and textbooks would no longer be enough to get me through.

After ten weeks of intense work I have, it seems, discovered the gene. Along the way I have also discovered that science is much more exciting than what I ever learnt from textbooks. What is more, it was not thanks to the lab manuals that I succeeded. I got through only because I realized that nobody could help me better than myself. Because I kept my mind open and my focus narrow. Because I learned that the correct answers were usually the simplest ones. I am very grateful for the Watson School of Biological Scientists for granting me this unique opportunity.

Vicky Zhou
URP 2006 with Dr. Lincoln Stein
Watson School of Biological Sciences

My summer as an URP at CSHL was a truly defining experience. From attending weekly faculty talks to giving my own talks, and from auditing seminars in the Gene Expression course to competing against that course’s team in the annual Plate Race, I discovered that I really feel at home in a dynamic research environment. From barbequing with graduate students to dining with renowned scientists, and from sailing in the lab’s “Double Helix” sailboat to climbing the Double Helix sculpture, I found that I thoroughly enjoy living and playing with scientists. I now know, more than ever, that I want to be a scientist.

The program gave me everything an aspiring scientist could want. I learned skills in bioinformatics from both my project and weekly workshops. Although I had no practical programming experience beforehand, I was able to create a new visualization interface for WormBase, the online database for C. elegans. I gained advice and insight about applying to graduate schools and pursuing a scientific career from some of the leading scientists of the world. Finally, I bonded with a support group of 23 other URPs who share the same interests and goals. I believe that I am now well-equipped to pursue the next stage of my scientific training. I cannot imagine a more worthwhile – and fun! – summer as the one I spent as an URP.

Cindy Puente
URP 2007 with Dr. Alea Mills
Watson School of Biological Sciences

Attending the Undergraduate Research Program at Cold Spring Harbor was a sound investment in my future. As a student of molecular genetics and a zealous for cancer genomics, CSHL was the ideal place for a summer internship. I worked in Dr. Alea Mills laboratory and had the pleasure of working with the scientists who discovered a novel tumor suppressor, CHD5, that had remained elusive for 30 years. In fact, my project involved evaluating the endogenous expression levels of CHD5 in various transformed human cell lines. In working on my project, I was able to learn an array of classic techniques, such as western blotting, immunofluorescence, tissue culture, mRNA extraction, rt-PCR and PCR. I am very excited to have these techniques in my repertoire because I know that I can utilize them in the laboratory which I am doing my undergraduate research.

Another aspect of the program that I appreciated was the Bioinformatics seminars. The workshop surveyed important bioinformatics tools that are available for data analysis and research purposes. In fact, with the knowledge that I gained, I was able to design two sets of human CHD5 primers (the first in the lab), which can later be used for quantitative analyses.

I did some intense learning in CSHL but to make up for it, I had a lot of fun. Everyone in the program was very amicable, allowing for friendships to be made very easily. We watched movies, went to the beach at night, visited the near by towns, scavenged the City and played volleyball. One of the most exciting benefits of the program was meeting Jim Watson. It was really fun and exciting to meet someone who has had such a profound impact in science.

In general, my experience at CSHL was exceptional. I loved it for its panorama, people and history.