Mentoring Tomorrow’s Genetic Innovators 

Every August, for a single afternoon, PNRI’s lobby is decorated with balloons and an impressive variety of cupcakes to celebrate the annual Intern Symposium. This culmination of PNRI’s Summer Undergraduate Research Internship (SURI) is when interns present their summer projects. The atmosphere is excited and a little nervous, but most notable is the beaming pride of each intern as they receive applause for their hard work and in-depth research.

Kate Helle, a native of Chicago, entering her junior year at the University of Washington (UW), began research with PNRI last fall. This summer, Kate focused on data analysis for patients with rare diseases. Encouraged by Claudia Carvalho, PhD, Assistant Investigator, and leader of PNRI’s Carvalho Lab, Kate is writing a manuscript on her research. 

Of the opportunities afforded by SURI she says, “Many of my friends work in large medical labs, they love it, but they may have never spoken to [the head of the lab]. I get to speak to Claudia two to three times a week. Being able to talk through things with her, and be taught directly by her, has changed my education so much.” 

Photo: Claudia Carvalho, PhD, Assistant Investigator (left) and Kate Helle, Research Intern (right)

Also hosted by the Carvalho Lab is Lidiia Gagarina, from St. Petersburg, Russia. A rising senior at UW, she and Kate are both molecular, cellular, and developmental biology (MCD Bio) students. Lidiia fell in love with biology while studying genetics and applied to SURI to gain lab experience and learn about genomic analysis. Lidiia’s work at PNRI has focused on analytical work with data from families with primary immunodeficiency diseases. 

“I learned a lot about research, genomic analysis, and professional opportunities in the biotech field,” says Lidiia about her SURI experience. “It’s very exciting, every day you learn something new. I now have a better understanding about the work in the research lab, and I want to continue working in genetics.”

Photo: Lidiia Gagarina, Research Intern (left) and Claudia Carvalho, PhD, Assistant Investigator (right)

Dorothy Lartey from Bellevue, WA, had her interest in science reignited during a biology class in her freshman year at UW. Now about to be a senior in the MCD Bio program, Dorothy spent her PNRI internship studying contagious cancer among soft-shell clams. She accompanied members of PNRI’s Metzger Lab to Similk Bay, collecting bivalve samples for research. Such opportunities provide direct experience with concepts previously only introduced in a classroom setting. 

“I found every aspect of the project very engaging and fun,” says Dorothy, describing her work in the Metzger Lab. “It was a great place to learn. I knew I could go to anyone in the lab with inquiries about my project. The lab helped strengthen my confidence in myself.”

Photo: Fiona Garrett, Metzger Lab Member (left) and Dorothy Lartey, Research Intern (right)

Cynthia Nunez, who initially joined PNRI as a researcher in January, is a rising junior at UW planning to apply to the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) program. Hailing from Royal City, WA, Cynthia lights up when describing her work with transposable elements in PNRI’s McLaughlin Lab, and she’s not the only one illuminated. She spent her internship tagging cells with fluorescent molecules so they could be examined under a specialty microscope. 

“I love seeing the proteins and the molecules and knowing how they bind together,” she says. “Because it’s how everything is. It’s all just little atoms combining.” Through the beautiful images of cells created by this process known as immunofluorescence, Cynthia says she sees a clearer intersection between art and science.

Photo: Cynthia Nunez, Research Intern (left) and Ricky Padilla Del Valle, McLaughlin Lab Member (right)

Also in the McLaughlin Lab and the only Seattle native in this year’s cohort, Mollie McGibbon is now entering her junior year at Willamette University in Salem, OR, as a biochemistry major and biology minor. Originally pursuing wet lab experience in chemistry, she found that studying in a genetics lab instead made her experience much more well-rounded. 

“At PNRI, I was trained in techniques that I would never have had the opportunity to learn at my school,” Mollie says of coming from a smaller institution than her fellow interns. “I got a comprehensive crash course in microbiology and genetic research, and I am much more comfortable working with cells and DNA, skills I intend to use for the rest of my career.”

Photo: Ricky Padilla Del Valle, McLaughlin Lab Member (left) and Mollie McGibbon, Research Intern (right)

Rick McLaughlin, PhD, Assistant Investigator and head of the McLaughlin Lab, leads much of the recruiting for SURI, and emphasizes the importance of a paid internship. “If you don’t offer pay, you select for kids who don’t need the pay,” he says. “That’s a not an equitable way to structure science.” 

“Fostering diversity in science is a core goal of SURI, because a diverse workforce benefits the scientific endeavor,” says Aimée Dudley, PhD, Senior Investigator, head of the Dudley Lab, and Director of Educational Outreach for PNRI. “Scientists decide what to pursue based on what they believe is interesting and important. Of course, our backgrounds and experiences influence that. If science is done by a homogenous set of people, we will be asking a narrow set of questions and will limit the types of discoveries we make.”

The SURI program is integral to PNRI, where scientists value mentoring the next generation. “I think mentorship is about providing opportunities to learn and to establish professional networks,” says Dr. Carvalho. “The interns participated in meetings with collaborators outside PNRI, doctors working with the diseases they’re studying. That is very important, providing opportunities. That’s what mentors do.”

Dr. McLaughlin adds, “We have to have mentors who are pushing people to use skills that might not be typically thought of as core scientific skills. Like art, and visualization, and creative writing, and who knows what else?” 

It’s clear from the varied interests of the interns this year that there are many routes to building an exciting career in science. PNRI is proud to be one part of their career journey.