The summer before my freshmen year of college I had the amazing oppertunity to participate in the University of Washington GenOM ALVA program: A nine week in-resident undergraduate research experiance. We took college level STEM prepaptory course in the morning such as chemistry, calculus, molecular lab training and in the afternoon worked in our research laboratory. The administators (especially the director Lisa Peterson) and the frineds I made layed the supportive foundation for my success in college.

But arguable the most influencual aspect of this program was my placement in Veronica Di Stilio lab. This was my first research experiance outside the classroom and I learned the basic training of a molecular biologist. My goal that summer, was to genetically characterie a horticultural mutant of the lab study system commonly known ‘Betty Blake’. It exhibits a classic B-class mutant phenotype so we took candidate gene approach, that involved a lot of PCRs and gels.

ALVA GenOM is still active and has expanded to include rising seniors in higher as well as engineering students. Check them out here. I managed to dig up my final paper and scientific poster. I think my scientific writing has gotten better but the same can’t be said for my spelling and grammer!