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"Hi. My name is Matilde Mirande and I'm at UCLA. I'm a first year graduate student in
the Molecular Biology Interdepartmental Program. I'm currently studying cell and developmental
biology. I'm in Brigitte Gompert's lab where we study lung disease and lung cancer. Lung
cancer is very deadly so we've developed a model here in the lab that mimics what humans
develop later on in life as a result of genetic disease or from smoking. What my project entails
is seeing how the lung cancer model is similar or different to what we find in real life
and how different types of cancer that we're seeing in our samples affects different types
of lung cancers seen in humans.
I'm from the Bay area. I'm originally from Fremont. and I did my undergraduate at San
Francisco State University. I graduated in 2014. I grew up learning about science from
television shows like Billy Nye the Science Guy which proves science can be fun. When
I got older not only do I see science can be fun but it can be something that anyone
can do. As a woman, and especially as a minority in science, I want to be able to show that
there are people like me and that I can inspire a younger generation to go ahead and study
science, get started early and make a difference in the world.
I've always held an interest in science but it really wasn't until my undergraduate career
that I was exposed to laboratory research. As a sophomore I was able to become part of
a lab and did hands on research and had my own project. I really like the interactiveness
that science has to offer.
I'm motivated to do science because I want to make a difference. I want to bring hope
to not only myself but also to my family members and friends who have unfortunately been afflicted
by diseases that sometimes don't have a cure. While research is a slow process it does give
hope for a cure in the future.
My project in the Gompert's lab is studying lung cancer. We've developed a lung cancer
model that may closely resemble what is seen in humans. My project is specifically identifying
what different types of cancer are seen in this lung cancer model.
The way I work on my experiment is that I first need to treat the tissue and dehydrate
it. This means that it's easier for me to get the antibodies present in the tissue exposed
to the environment. I put them through a series of alcohol washes and then I use a microwave
which boils the tissue, which is able to expose the antigens present in this lung cancer.
I then am able to get antibodies that are very sensitive to light, which is why we keep
them in a refrigerator. I'm able to put them onto the tissue and then I can incubate them
at a cold temperature so that the antibodies are able to bind to any antigens, any signals
that are present into the tissue.
After the tissue has been processed, one very important step is outlining the sample. This
allows us to keep any fluids, be it antibodies or wash buffer, in the sample. I'm able to
take a wax pen and I outline just the periphery of the samples in order to minimize the amount
of antibodies that we use but also keep a central location of where the solutions are
going to be put onto the slide.
Lab life is very much a team effort. A lab is like an office. You have a team, each person
has a responsibility but when you come together you can make something amazing happen. My
hopes and dreams are that this lung cancer model is able to serve the population and
provide a basis for disease modeling or perhaps even for drug screening that allows for finding
a cure to devastating lung cancer.
Research allows me to express my creativity and I want to keep doing this for not only
the remainder of my PhD but also in the future. I would like to see myself working in a lab
but also spreading the fun to the general public. I want to get the message of how science
is going to benefit humankind out to the public.
When I first started doing scientific research, it was a little hard at first but what I was
able to find was that in an environment where you are going to be exploring your creativity,
you're going to be able to bring your imagination to life. You're solving problems. You are
the boss. So what I have to say is if you think it's something worth your time I would
say go ahead and pursue it. For me it's where I find myself the happiest."