Student Experiences

UREP Experiences

"What did I learn? Well, basically the whole process, starting with putting together a proposal, all the way to following up with an experimental plan, was a learning experience. It was a chance to learn how to put together and setup a project.

Furthermore, I learnt the different techniques that I had to use. I was introduced to cytotoxicity tests and culturing techniques. I also learnt how to use the confocal and the patch clamp - skills I will definitely use again in the future.

The UREP project I did was both challenging and extremely rewarding. I was was given the opportunity to learn exciting new research techniques and also was able to further my scienfitic curiosity and knowledge by asking questions and reading papers. It was also challenging in that I had to balance my research work with my academics and other activities. I believe participating in this project has greatly helped me improve and develop as a student researcher and will no doubt aid me in my future research endeavors

The opportunity to do a UREP came to me completely out of the blue. Needless to say, being a greenhorn in the world of scientific research and excited by the process of doing research plus the money was a bit of a bonus so I jusmped right in. What I didn't realize was that UREP is quite a commitment and research itself is a very painstaking process. See, sometimes you'll find yourself spending hours in lab the day before a prelim or late at night during the holidays and at the end of the day you'll find that all that was in vain because you messed something up or the experiment just didn't work well. You see it's hard work and repeating experiments and being disappointed and then finding the strength to go on. Yes getting your work published and getting a poster presentation and actually contributing to scientific knowledge is the fruit of all the troubles and it does taste sweet but the path there might not be so easy, even for us Cornellians! However, it really is fun learning new techniques and when you successfully troubleshoot through a glitch in the protocol and get successful results. It's a mixed bag really and I'd think anyone even remotely interested in science should just go for it. Who knows, you might just be the next Nobel Laureate!

I got the opportunity to be involved in the research labs at Cornell. I learned how data in research papers are developed from procedural experiments. Commitment and taking responsibilities were two important things involved in my experience.

The UREP experience introduced me to the field of bio medical research and I came to appreciate how it is such a vital part of medicine. It was truly gratifying to realize that I was contributing to human understanding through my work. Such an exposure also helped me make informed decisions to shape my future research career. For instance, it motivated me to participate and make a firm decision about the Summer Student Research Experience Program (SSREP)

I started doing research since my first year at WCM-Q. I did not work in any lab before that and was completely new to the system. My research experience has been very exciting. I believe that being involved in research complements my career as a physician. WCM-Q labs gave a huge opportunity for me to learn sophisticated lab techniques and enhance my knowledge to be able to answer the challenging questions that today hinder the scientific progress. In last few years, I have worked in multiple labs here in Qatar and in the USA. I have mastered the skills like cell culture work, western blots, PCR and confocal imaging. Perhaps, the skill of doing extensive literature review and being able to answer scientific queries is what I am most proud of. Having a head start in research at this stage is truly gratifying and a valuable experience.

I am extremely intrigued by neurology and biomedical research, after having been through the student summer research program at WCM-Q in conjunction with Cornell University in Ithaca. As a published co-author, I have recently worked on a paper on surfactant-based forward osmosis systems for prospective water treatment facilities. Prior to this, I worked on a paper on elucidating the function of neuronal proteins with mice as the model organism in Cornell Ithaca campus. The project was to determine the maturity of primary culture neurons using Immunohistochemistry, more specifically staining the GAP43 and OMP proteins. As well as determining neuronal outgrowth factors in presence of proteins: SPOCK 1, SPOCK 2, GAP43 and OMP. Currently I am working with Dr. Khalid Machaca on a project involving proteins of the cell cycle at WCM-Q in while juggling my first academic year of medical school. I am tremendously excited for a future career involving medical research as well as clinical medicine.