Third Bio-Blog Post!!! April 16, 2010
Posted by RhyanVillanueva in Uncategorized.2 comments
Hi, everyone!!! Wow, we are on the end of this semester already! It is incredible how the time passes. Here is my final blog for the semester. It is intriguing for me to read others people research, one learns from each experience and can expand its knowledge of things. And it is best when they are young people just like me!
The first blog I visited was from Aurian Garcia, she is from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras. She is working on a very interesting field, bioinformatics. Her specific goal is to study the reason that when bacteria changes lifestyles it loses important information on its genome regarding DNA repair mechanisms. I look forward to see the published research paper of Aurian’s!
On the other hand, Diana Rosario’s research deals with the main constituent of our bones & teeth, crystalline hydroxyapatite. It uses the amazing field of nanotechnology. Important applications could be discovered from this young girl such as the fabrication of hydroxyapatite nanocoating deposited on silicon used to overcome the existing barriers of biomedical coatings commercially used with metallic implants. I am impressed with the research that she is doing!
German Velez research deals with the Human Papiloma Virus and its correlation with cancerous tumors. It is also an important research because its findings will help a lot of people. I am happy for him, because he will present his work at the American Association of Cancer Research. Look forward to see the conclusion of his research!
I still can’t believe that the semester is going to end in a couple of weeks. This semester it has been a great experience for me. It was the introduction to a new laboratory which I feel very proud to belong to Dr. Carlos Rios lab. My lab partners are very smart, kind and have a lot of knowledge. I know that I am a Chemical Engineering Student and everyone around me is from Biology related majors, but I love it, science is an interdisciplinary field. I really appreciate the help that my mentor has given me; he is always available to help you, no matter in what circumstances.
On the other hand, I had one of my short term goals completed. My goal was to present my undergraduate research to the academic community. Although I have presented my project on important activities before it was at high school level. Now, I am a college sophomore and the feeling it is different.
XV Sigma XI Student Poster Day
I would say that the biggest challenge for me, it is to be on Chemical Engineering major (that does not have classes of Biology), when all my lab partners are from Biology related majors. It is sometimes difficult when everybody around you knows things and terms that you do not know. To overcome it, I have to read more research papers to could understand them. I would also want to enroll in Biology classes that will help me a lot to understand such themes in the lab. It has been a tough semester. Because I had to take difficult classes such as Physical Chemistry & Differential Equations among others that require a lot of time and dedication. And I have to add the time that being in a laboratory leads. But I just love it, I hate being in the comfort zone, just outside of it we can grow and let the potential inside of us exit. I have to say that I have learned a lot from themes that I do not even know that they existed, such as metagenomics! And once you know from them, it is amazing! My goals for the next semester are to keep searching for a positive DNAse clone; and to look for another bioactive molecule with biomedical applications. I would love to hear suggestions. Thanks for reading; I really appreciate your dedication! I wish the very best for you. Feel free to contact me for any questions you may have.
