2018
SAM ROBERTS
This summer I was lucky enough to be presented a once in a lifetime experience, one which some people could only dream of. The experience I’m talking about was my internship through HBCAC at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. My partner Sara Frawley and I were tasked with a two folded research and community knowledge project. The internship was three days a week, two days in the Chen Lab researching the effect of glyphosate and Roundup on the liver gene expression of rats. The other day we worked in the Center for Advanced Medicine (CAM) building spreading pesticide information to the public as well as sitting in on Region 2 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) meetings. The different buildings allowed us to experience multiple aspects of the research process.
The Chen Lab gave me a fantastic introduction to lab research as well as genetic research. Working in Dr. Jia Chen’s lab under Dr. Yula Ma, Corina Lessur, and Maya Kappil. We were taught everything we needed to know to complete our experiment. We started the internship knowing nothing about performing necessary lab actions, but now we are able to work in the lab almost independently. It was very slow at first, pipetting water repeatedly and other tasks like that, but our mentors were able to instruct us very effectively and teach us a large amount of information in a small amount of time. For out project, we worked on Glyphosate and Roundup, a herbicide that I personally researched in school as well as learned about from my other internship mentors at the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition. I was fortunate enough to be able to work hands on with the chemical that I have working with for so long.
The CAM building offered a more community focused and slightly slower paced take on environmental research. Working under Dr. Sarah Evans, we performed community knowledge assessments of pesticide use on Long Island and observed PEHSU meetings. The Long Island research opened my eyes to the sheer amount of pesticides that are used in New York, and more specifically Long Island, every year. I also realized the discrepancies between what people think they know about pesticides and reality. Many people don't really know the truth about the chemicals they use in their daily lives. PEHSU meetings are a gathering of accomplished environmentalists, doctors, and researchers who discuss medical cases that doctors bring to their attention and environmental topics that are pertinent to our health. Watching these meetings take place taught me about how scientists communicate and debate their research. Another amazing experience that I am incredibly thankful for.
Finally, thank you to everyone who helped me to obtain this internship as well as my mentors from the internship itself, Karen Miller and Melanie Gabrell. Thank you to Drs. Chen, Ma, and Evans as well as my mentors, Corina Lessur, and Maya Kappil. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You have provided me with a life changing experience that I will never forget.
SARA FRAWLEY
Completing and communicating research has been an amazing experience. This summer, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to intern at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai through HBCAC. Our project focused on the researching effects of glyphosate specifically and communicating the risks of pesticides in general to the public. We worked with Dr. Jia Chen, Dr. Yula Ma, and our mentors Maya Kappil and Corina Lesseur to research glyphosate, the active ingredient in the common pesticide RoundUp, and its effect on liver gene expression. They were all very helpful and amazing to work with. To communicate pesticide usage to the public, we worked with Dr. Sarah Evans. She explained the most beneficial ways to communicate our ideas to the public as we created an outreach project to assess our community's pesticide knowledge and usage.
We began our week in the lab to develop primers and pipette trays of samples to test. Here, I was exposed to the trial and error that goes into lab work and the many different aspects that are involved in developing results. From running gel electrophoresis tests to learning the code that is used to process data, every day was something new. On the second day of the week, we worked with Dr. Sarah Evans to brainstorm project ideas and sit in on Pediatric Environmental Health Specialties Unit (PEHSU) meetings where public health problems such as lead exposure and smoking would be discussed. These meetings were very informative and gave me a new understanding of what goes into public health communications. It was insightful to watch as they took large ideas with many details and simplified them to a few impactful points which would be communicated to the public. It was very interesting to see that, despite pesticides being an issue that has been previously addressed in many campaigns, there is still a lot of work that can and needs to be done. On the third day of each week, we went back to the lab to obtain our results and continue running tests. It was extremely interesting to examine pesticides from these different lenses at the same time.
Coming from an internship with a grassroots organization, The Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, provided yet another perspective on this issue. With HBCAC, I had previously learnt about the problems that pesticides can cause for our health and the environment while also trying to educate our community, so it was interesting to begin the summer with that perspective. It was spectacular to learn and become a part of the behind the scenes work that allows grassroots organizations to do what they do. As the summer went on, I truly felt in my element. I greatly enjoyed performing the research while also knowing the research we were doing was purposeful and would be communicated to so many people in our community. I am extremely thankful for this experience and know that it wouldn’t have been possible without HBCAC and all the wonderful people at Mount Sinai who let us embark on this journey with them.
