As a future physician, I believe that working in a laboratory setting is crucial to my understanding of the molecular processes that occur in the body. Although students can obtain knowledge through textbooks and in the classroom, I believe a significant factor necessary to the learning process is to experience the discipline of interest in a real-world setting. I decided to obtain a position as an undergraduate research assistant in order to experience the work of a true scientist. Currently, I am actively involved in a project in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.

The first day I stepped into the laboratory, a sense of nervousness came over me. I felt very inexperienced; I had just finished my first year as an undergraduate and had only taken introductory science courses. It was difficult for me to envisage working closely with talented scientists and becoming integrated in an active scientific community. My anxiety diminished, however, when listening to Dr. Cook, my research advisor, explain the goals of the current research project through easily understandable terms and diagrams.

I realized that I was about to embark on a research project that had the potential of providing a more efficient treatment for breast cancer. In Dr. Cook's laboratory we are primarily focusing on viral cancer research. It is known that the adenovirus 5 produces a gene called E1A. When this gene is expressed in tumor cells, the cancerous cell becomes more susceptible to immunological and chemical injuries, thus, promoting regulated cell death, or apoptosis, in malignant cancer cells. A clear understanding of the process by which E1A performs this action will allow us to develop a clinical treatment that can make chemotherapy and radiation more effective in battling cancer. It is very interesting to see how the work done in the laboratory can be applied to clinical treatments. Further experimentation with the adenoviral E1A oncogene will help us define the mechanism by which E1A promotes apoptosis in malignant cells. Once a clear understanding of these processes is achieved, we will be able to apply our research towards a more effective treatment of cancer.

It is fascinating to see how the concepts I have learned in the classroom are used to understand complex problems in the field of research. For example, in class I was introduced to conventional laboratory procedures such as gel electrophoresis and western blotting, through which the presence of proteins can be identified. In the laboratory, I was able to actually perform these experiments and use the data to gather conclusions about a component of my project. When I first began to work in the lab, I had to be taught how to perform almost every experiment used to gather data for the research project. Now, after two years of laboratory experience, I am able to confidently complete my own experiments and analyze my own data. In addition, I can sit in my lab meetings and thoroughly understand the discussions even when they include highly complicated material. It is a remarkable feeling to know that I am contributing to the treatment and understanding of cancer.

Dimple is a fourth-year student majoring in Biology. She plans to attend medical school in Fall 2003 and aspires to become a pediatrician.