²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù

As a bioinformatics student, I am typically working behind a computer screen. I wanted vet lab experience, so I joined this project thinking I’d be working with mice. I was surprised to find out we would be working with pigs. It was one of the most terrifying and extraordinary experiences of my life. Having no experience on a farm, I had no idea what I was getting into. We were part of every element of the pigs’ lives for about a month and then a new cohort would arrive. We cared for them, inoculated them with probiotics, and euthanized them before cutting out tissue for analysis. In most wet labs, researchers specialize in one step of the study to minimize the risk for error, but I knew each pig from birth through to my final report. 

The experience taught me something crucial: do the work yourself. While you must depend on team members, you also need to depend on yourself. There were moments I could say, 'someone else will take the samples,' but I learned these were opportunities to take initiative. By the end of the summer, I felt much more ownership of the project and better understood how researchers' decisions impact the scientific process. Bias can absolutely show up in the lab. When selecting pigs for euthanasia, I'd joke "pick that one - it bites," but my mentor would remind me about the importance of randomizing our selections. With her guidance, I learned to always came back to the scientific method.