Hi, I’m Michelle, and this fall I’ll be a senior at Mills High School in Millbrae. In school, I compete on the Science Bowl team, and am involved in our literary magazine and school newspaper. Outside of school I read and write (mostly poetry), and play tennis. I plan to go into medicine in the future. This summer, I was given the task of optimizing production of the protein Fus3 and solubilizing it.

This internship has given me a lot of insight into biological research, as well as provided me with experience working in the lab. The fieldtrips were awesome, too, because I got to see how other research labs work. This internship has been tough, but it’s been a really fun experience, and the people (scientists and other interns) are wonderful.

Hi, my name is Krystina Daniels. I am a senior at Milpitas Highschool in Northern California (go Trojans!). In my spare time, I like to run track and cross country, watch movies and t.v., listen to music, and spend time with my friends. I would like to travel or study abroad in foreign countries. Outside of school, I am a volunteer at Stanford's Lucile Packard Childrens' Hospital. I am part of the Frank S. Greene Scholars Program, a math and science initiative program for K-12 African American students in the Bay Area. I am also a member and past officer of my high school's Interact Club. Last summer, I participated in COSMOS at UC Davis, a California State Summer School for high school students, where I met a whole bunch of people that are now some of my closest friends (cluster 7 rocks!!!). I applied to be an intern at the Molecular Sciences Institute because I plan to major in biology and possibly pursue my second-grade dream of becoming a doctor, but I am still open to other careers. These eight weeks have been one remarkable experience. I will never forget the frequent lab meetings we had every Friday, feelings of confusion, doubt, or happiness that we shared, and all the awesome people I met here. All of the interns here have learned so much (like running our own gel) that no average student would ever learn in high school. Thanks MSI!! To future interns, take advantage of your experience and most importantly: don't be afraid to ask questions!

Hey everyone! My name is Ashly-Nikkole Davis and I am from San Francisco. I recently graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart High School and I will be attending the University of Southern California this fall (Fight on, Trojans!). Usually I keep myself busy, and high school was no exception. During my senior year I served as Student Body Vice President, Editor-in-Chief of my school yearbook staff, News Editor of my school newspaper staff, Co-President of the Social Club (we planned all the school dances), Vice President of the National Honors Society, and President of the Black Student Union. In my free time I like to dance, play the piano, and hang out with my friends.

My interest in genetics and genomic research is what brought me to the MSI internship. Though the past couple months have been challenging, they have also been academically rewarding. Unlike the other interns, I plan to major in a non-scientific related field – communications. However, due to my interest in science, I intend to attend law school and go on to practice patent law. This summer I learned that even if one does not plan to be a scientist, it is still very helpful to have basic knowledge about science for many careers.

Hi! I’m Bria Selhorst. In June of 2005, I graduated from Marin Academy in San Rafael. This month, I will begin my undergraduate education at Brown University. I play tennis, swim, and I’m a lifeguard. In my free time, I enjoy watching movies, reading, drawing, and painting.

The moment that I read about MSI’s summer internship, I knew that it was a unique opportunity that I wanted to be a part of. It was an honor to be selected for such a challenging program. The first week, I was assigned to the protein Ste5. My goal was to purify and sterilize this protein found in yeast with the help of E. coli. I enjoyed making friends with my fellow interns and learning about the world of scientific research.

¡ Hola! I'm Adeline Wong (a.k.a "mouse"), and this fall I'll be a senior at Homestead High School in Cupertino. In school I participate in speech and debate and mathematics competitions (yay, math!). Outside of school I play the piano, write poetry, think (too much), and make things. Recently, I've been learning to unicycle with moderate success (::nurses elbow::). I love being unexpected. I wasn't really drawn to biology, in particular, when I applied for this internship, and what really bothered me about biology is how it seems like such a qualitative science. But I see now that this isn't necessarily the case. Through talking to everyone here at the lab (scientists and mathematicians), I've gained some insight on what difficult problems are still open, like how proteins fold and how cells work and how their behavior can be quantified. On the whole, this internship has been hard work and long hours, but also good times and laughs. It has given me a more positive view on biology, and in college I'm thinking about majoring in either mathematics (perhaps to apply to biological problems) or a combination computation/neurology major.

I was really surprised at the amount of freedom we were given in planning and carrying out our experiments. (There wasn't someone looking over our shoulders every hour of the day.) We also got experience combating unexpected problems (How come all my samples got CONTAMINATED?!), analyzing and drawing conclusions from data, and figuring out what to do next based on our conclusions. (Of course, this was done with guidance from our esteemed "colleagues.") I worked on optimizing the production of native Ste7 protein, a protein involved in signal transduction in the alpha pheromone pathway in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Producing this protein involved transforming the bacterium Escherichia coli by introducing a plasmid containing the yeast gene STE7 and inducing the production of protein with IPTG. After lysing the E. coli cells, I used gel electrophoresis and the Western blot to evaluate the production of soluble Ste7 protein. Finally, I used nickel columns to purify large quantities of Ste7 for the other scientists to use in their experiments.