At the end of all things...
Somehow, somewhere along the way, I guess I got a bit behind on my blogging =X And somehow, it's now my last day... I figure it's a good time to catch up and sum it all up.
I can't believe that it's all over already. The last time I updated this blog, I honestly still had very little idea of what my research was about and how it fit into this big picture of "cardiac development" that the Kirby Lab is interested in. And in the three or so weeks that have passed since then, I've given a chalk talk, written an abstract, created a poster, and given both a lab presentation and participated in a poster session on my research work for this summer. To say the least, it's been a crazy past few weeks. It makes me especially sad to be leaving now, especially since I finally really understand where my project is headed, and just how much more there is to do. But I guess I'll have to leave the fun to someone else.
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And, I just spent the last hour writing up the rest of a very loong blog entry... but as luck would have it, technology epically failed when I went to go save it. Go figure.
And, now, unfortunately, it's late and I really am not up to rewriting everything... So I'll just summarize:
I want to say a big, big "Thank you" to everyone at the wonderful Kirby Lab for all their support, guidance, and encouragement through out these past eight weeks. Especially to my awesome mentor Martha! I have learned so much in such a short span of time, I can hardly believe it. I am so, so sad to be leaving... but being a BME major, I guess I should also broaden my horizons a bit, and whatnot. But whereever I go, and whatever successes I have, I know will always be attributed in some way to what I have gained at the Kirby Lab this summer. So thank you so much to everyone there, for everything!
And thank you so much too, to Dean Nijhout, Mrs. Wahl, Alex, Suzanne, and all the seminar speakers who have made this summer experience so enriching. It's not only been the lab experience opportunity, but also the seminars, panels, and discussions that have made this such a great summer in terms of growth and learning. I've not only gained so many technical and research skills, but I have definitely also gotten a much better understanding of what a future in biological research looks like. It really has been a life-changing summer, for me, at least.
So, from here, I'm looking forward to a few weeks at home, then diving into my second year at Duke and a brand new lab experience (all thanks, actually, to this program). It's been a great summer
Peace.
