Maryna Startseva reflects on her time interning at the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research.
In the summer of 2024, I interned at the Conway Institute in Prof. McClean’s lab. My internship was dedicated to vaccine research against Klebsiella pneumoniae, and was funded by the College of Science Scholarship.
I worked on bacterial transformation to encode the antigen by introducing DNA into the bacteria. I also performed protein purification on a chromatography column to separate and purify the antigen protein. Finally, I used SDS PAGE gel electrophoresis to validate the expected molecular weight of the protein in purified fractions. During the last few weeks, I worked with ELISAs to evaluate the protective efficacy of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa vaccine. ELISA stands for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and it detects antibodies. Finally, I evaluated the antibody response generated by a vaccine candidate and correlated it with results of animal studies.
In the future, these vaccines could protect against highly antibiotic-resistant bacteria, called ESKAPE pathogens. Each letter of the acronym stands for species name of the bacterium, and my research focused on ‘K’ for Klebsiella pneumoniae and ‘P’ for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. At the end of the internship, I had the opportunity to display my research and data during a poster presentation.
In my spare time between experiments, I did a lot of reading and took part in lab meetings and journal clubs. No day was the same: on some days, I spent most of the time in the lab, on other days I performed data analysis and updated my lab notebook. A few times I worked on experiments outside of my project. Such diversity keeps you from getting bored! Moreover, I was very fortunate to be able to attend a microbiology conference at Trinity College Dublin, it made me feel like a proper scientist.
I chose this internship for many reasons. Firstly, I was impressed by the work my supervisor presented in our immunology and biochemistry lectures. Second, I’ve been dreaming of working with vaccines, and the recent pandemic solidified this passion. Ever since I’ve been reading news and scientific articles on new vaccine developments and decided I wanted to be a part of this. Finally, when selecting my major after Stage 2 I struggled to choose between Biochemistry and Microbiology, since vaccine research integrates both the fields. The lab skills I obtained will be valuable for future PhD research, as well as a clinical pharmaceutical career.
I was pleased to find out my internship would take place in UCD Conway Institute. It is a hub for scientific research, new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies. It is multidisciplinary with teams working with cystic fibrosis, neurodegeneration, arthritis, diabetic complications, chronic pain and depression
I have many warm memories of this internship. I worked with researchers at different stages of their career from all over the world. Our team meetings and journal clubs fostered an encouraging and accepting environment, which helped me grow both personally and professionally. I used to be terrified of making mistakes in my undergrad labs, and when something went wrong, it put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day. However, during my internship, I realised that there is no place for perfectionism in real research: you achieve something by trying and failing numerous times. The whole process is called research for a reason. Despite the frustration that failed experiments bring, it is an opportunity to learn and develop your troubleshooting and analytical skills.
Life is not a sci-fi movie where scientists solve the problem and save the world in a snap of the finger
The internship helped me be forward in asking for help; I used to be shy about it. While it is important to learn how to work independently, there is nothing wrong with asking for helpI saw people do it all the time, regardless of how experienced they were. It took a few different people to show me how to make a gel for electrophoresis before I managed to do it myself. And you won’t believe how many times I asked other lab members to check my calculations! Some experiments might sound quick and simple on paper, but can take a whole day, as a lot of the equipment is communal and requires sharing and scheduling, meaning that I had to plan ahead for my experiments.
My advice to anyone looking to intern at UCD next year is to start during the first 3-5 weeks of the Autumn trimester. Don’t hesitate to email the professors from your favourite modules and inquire about internship opportunities. Take your time to review their research background and decide which parts of it interest you the most. An internship will help you enhance your CV, and will make you more confident and independent during your final project. Lastly, make sure to take time to network and attend social events with your team – it’s a great opportunity to unwind and connect with your colleagues outside work.