Sharing Science

The work space that I am currently working under is extremely kind and engaging. The Cooper Lab truly has some inspiring people working here. Aside from being incredibly smart and strong at what they do, they are amazingly good hearted people. From the moment I got here everyone has been doing the best they can to include me in whatever technique they are working on. In this, they walk me through their experiment, step by step and answer any questions I may have about terminology that they use or what makes up a liquid they are letting a limb rest in. They understand that I need quite a lot of assistance in learning and have been more than happy to help me adapt to their fast-paced ambiance. I've noticed that every single time I have not had something to to do with my mentor, there is always someone willing to let me shadow their process, even when there is a need for concentration. From being here for a short amount of time, it amazes me how much crossover between projects there are and the amount of reliability there is amongst each other. I think this falls under the amount of evident respect they each have for one another, which I am trying to mirror as well.

What I have found from being here was that there is a lot of crossover between labs. I was well aware that the scientific community did an excellent job of sharing their research, but I did not know at what extent that reached. From my short time being here, I have been amazed to see how much Kim does in order for the lab to get the resources they need. My mentor and one of her coworkers are working on a project and since the experiment they are doing has never been done in this lab, they are having trouble with it. Kim recognized this and was able to set up a meeting with a lab at UCLA for her scientists to learn from others who have done this experiment before. Mai, my mentor, explained to me that Kim’s reach out is much more appealing to the other labs because it comes from a P.I. (primary investigator), who is the person in charge of the entire lab. Not to say that a trainee cannot make this connection to other labs, but it is more easily done when the P.I. conducts the request.