Words are hard

Constructing the research article was a rough time. Every element on its own had its own difficulties. Even from the start, when planning out the narrative for the research article to follow, it was initially hard to see the big picture and understand where the data from our experiments contributed to the pool of knowledge in the universe. We received the data and had to try to comprehend what it meant, especially when the results didn’t align with our expectations. Then came the magnanimous task of writing up the entirety of the experiment, which involved a writing out a long methods section, and synthesizing established science from literature with new information from our results, to come to a conclusion. And even after the individual parts of the paper were done, we had to make sure that the paper flowed coherently, with proper transitions, to tie into the big picture.

It was challenging, but all the resources we were provided definitely helped make it a fulfilling experience and learning opportunity. Professor Samson’s lectures ingrained the foundations of DNA repair and established the pathways of homologous recombination and NHEJ and how they affected each other. The in-depth feedback on our methods, first figure, and intro were very helpful as always. I know that Noreen and Leslie told us from the beginning of the semester that the communication lab would be a good resource, and I definitely should have gone, especially when I was unsure about framing the overall question, and whether I was introducing enough information and hitting on enough points of discussion. As usual, for me it was an issue of not completing everything on time.

Also, in terms of the experiments we did, it was interesting to see the different angles we could take in probing the DNA damage response of the BRCA2 null cells. It made sense to use an assay that counted how many cells survived after being treated with the different drugs. The RNA-seq was a different angle in approaching the question that I was never exposed to before. It was cool to be able to compute statistics and upregulated and downregulated genes from the RNA-seq data, and actually be able to connect the most down/up-regulated genes to their functions. I know we probably barely touched the surface of what kind of information you can learn from an RNA-seq, and I wonder what other kinds of data analysis you can do.

Writing this research article made me confused about my major/ life plans again. I thought I was planning on going to grad school, but that will involve lots of writing proposals, grants, papers, presentations, and all that. If it took me this long to write lab report which we were given all the details of and resources for, I can only imagine how hard it would be to write one on my own. I know it takes practice, but practice takes motivation. Ah.