1. Reflective Essay
BIOL 4997: Biomedical Techniques
Paola G. Caballero León
Society has a strong influence on most of our daily decisions. What we eat, wear,
and buy has been pre-established by trends. These trends unconsciously dictate our
path, show us what is cool or not, what is right and what is not. You just have to ask
little kids what they want to be when they grow up to confirm this. The kids’ dream job
list could go as follows: musician, actor, dancer, astronaut, firefighter, doctor, and it
could go on and on. The first three jobs mentioned have one quality in common: fame.
Astronauts go to space and what little kid is not enthralled by the unknown universe?
With movies such as Star Wars and Star Trek, the universe has become a place of
much interest. Lastly, firefighters and doctors save lives. Rare is the occasion when a
little kid says he or she wants to be a scientist. In order for a little kid to say that, he or
she needs to have a previous idea of what a scientist is and does. Sadly, society is too
focused on promoting fame, the necessity to improve health conditions and other types
of careers as the “successful” ones. I am a product of this type of society. I grew up with
the idea of becoming a doctor and had established a plan to achieve this goal. It was
not until I started my first year at college and in the RISE program that I discovered what
research truly was. Never had I considered before doing research as my ultimate career
goal…until now.
During this Spring Semester 2014, I enrolled in the Biomedical Techniques
course of the RISE Program. It was a very intensive course in which I learned about
various laboratory techniques that enhanced my performance in the various research
experiences throughout the semester. Each week, we met up with different mentors that
were in charge of research groups inside the university. They taught us valuable
techniques commonly applied in their research projects. This part served as preliminary
training for the research projects we would have to carry out after that. Some
techniques that I learned and practiced were: protein separation with SDS-Page,
analysis of protein activity with Zymography electrophoresis, DNA Barcoding, sterile
techniques, water quality analysis with coliphages, among many others.
One of the research projects I carried out with my lab partner was isolating and
characterizing a mycobacteriophage from tropical soils of Puerto Rico. The workshop
we received motivated us a lot and soon after it we began to work with the project. The
hardest and most frustrating part was bringing soil samples week after week and, after
spending an average of three days analyzing the sample, getting negative results. We

2. analyzed a total of 11 soil samples from different places of Puerto Rico and were able
get positive results in one of the last samples. Once that was accomplished, further
purification and characterization processes followed. Another hardship we encountered
was the susceptibility of the Mycobacterium smegmatis bacteria. There were weeks in
which the purification plates were thrown away due to constant contamination of the
bacteria. Due to this, the culture ran out quickly, hence there were other weeks in which
there were no bacteria available for the project. Nonetheless, with a great amount of
perseverance and dedication, the phage was successfully isolated and purified.
An activity that really interested me was the Creative Scientific Writing Contest.
After having attended three seminars over the course of the semester we were required
to choose one and use it as motivation to create a creative short story. I chose the one
that was related to Chemistry, specifically to Soft Materials, which is also the topic of my
upcoming summer research project, and wrote a short story called “Losing Perspective”.
I basically focused on the frustration of the researcher when designing a proposal or a
research project. In order to design a project, one must try to contribute in a new,
different and creative way to the solution of a problem. This is not easily done. One gets
frustrated, stressed out, even irritated. These are all negative feelings that impede with
the thinking process, making the person get desperate, and eventually, lose perspective
on the whole situation. The story’s message is to also analyze the big picture in order to
get the full perspective.
This semester has been very challenging. There were workshops to attend,
summaries to write and hand in, seminars to participate in, two research projects to
carry out at the same time, stories to write, and presentations to give. I had to learn to
prioritize accordingly in order to successfully complete with each assignment. My writing
skills and oral communication have definitely improved throughout the semester. When I
arrive at Penn State this summer, I will already be ahead of most of my classmates due
to the many skills I have acquired and the lab techniques that I have learned. The world
of research is a world I cannot wait to discover and see if I can dedicate myself to
research for the rest of my life. The summer research experience will help me decide
which path I am going to choose. When I entered college, my future plans were to study
medicine. The RISE program has taught me about a whole different way I can
contribute to the world: Research. My future now depends on my upcoming experience
during the summer.