Written by: Neha Skandan
This past summer, I worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of their Student Internship Program. The branch where I conducted research was the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is based in Baltimore, MD. I am actually a returning summer student at NIDA, where I chose to work at the same lab to further my projects that I started the previous summer. The overarching objective of my lab focuses on researching the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is a critical communication pathway in the neuroendocrine system that regulates the body’s stress response. As research at NIDA aims to explore the neurobiology of substance use disorders, my lab investigates the neuropsychopharmacology of HPA axis dysregulation due to addiction. My particular research has focused on understanding HPA axis dysregulation through the perspective of treating neuropathic pain, wherein I tested the effects of modulating key receptors involved in the HPA axis on the presentation of neuropathic pain during acute alcohol or opioid withdrawal in pre-clinical models.
Key Experiences
My lab environment
I gained a tremendous amount of experience in terms of working in a scientific setting with researchers at every stage of their career paths. I was grateful to have an expansive network of mentors, from my post-baccalaureate mentor who would lend support on a daily basis to my post-doctoral mentor and my principal investigator (PI), who would frequently meet with me to discuss my findings and provide guidance on executing my project. I felt fully integrated in my work environment, even with the rest of the researchers at lab, who were all extremely approachable and welcoming. Our lab would participate in weekly branch meetings, which highlighted a researcher each week and provided the platform for them to present their findings to everyone. I also received the opportunity to present my project at the branch meeting nearing the end of my internship both last summer and this summer. I particularly enjoyed this experience because of the discussions following the presentations, which would result in insightful perspectives on data interpretation and scientific reasoning.
Presentations
I was excited to present at a number of symposiums and conferences, both last year and this year. At the NIH, I presented a poster at both the NIDA and NIH Summer Symposiums, highlighting my summer project alongside fellow interns. This year, my abstract was accepted to the NIH Annual Research Festival, which I will be presenting in Bethesda in September. Last summer, I also attended and presented my posters at American Thoracic Society and American Psychological Association, sharing my research from the labs at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine that I work at during the year (I conduct research on cell proliferative mechanisms in the context of acute lung injury with the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and support clinical research on the role of the orexin system in sleep during treatment induction and management of opioid use disorder). All of these experiences opened my eyes to the field of academia in a broader sense, attending talks that have highlighted cutting edge research, allowing me to expand my network, and being inspired by so many prominent figures in the various fields of research that I have dipped my toes into over the past couple of years. Being able to present my own projects have also strengthened my own ability to communicate science effectively and confidently, as well as enriching my understanding of the science underlying my day-to-day experiments.
Skills and Knowledge Gained
My Summer Highlight – the Astronaut Scholarship!
In the spring of my junior year, I was honored to have been named an Astronaut Scholar. I had received a nomination from Johns Hopkins to apply for the Astronaut Scholarship. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) was founded by the Mercury 7 Astronauts to support undergraduate juniors/seniors in STEM. As part of the award, I had received the opportunity to attend ASF’s Innovators Symposium and Gala for a week in Houston over the summer, which was a life-changing experience, largely in part because of the incredible networking opportunities and newfound support that I received. Not only did I meet other scholars and form wonderful friendships along the way, but I also met many inspirational Astronauts and inspirational STEM researchers at different phases of their careers. Additionally, we received a full tour of the Johnson Space Center and learned so much of space history and space research in our country. As part of Innovators, ASF hosted a Technical Conference for Scholars to each present our work, and I presented the research that I have conducted at NIDA over the past couple of summers. I was excited to culminate my summer experience by sharing my work with a broader audience in STEM, where I honed my scientific communication skills to highlight the impact of the research and engage in many discussions afterwards. I enjoyed attending the rest of the Scholars’ presentations, as the Technical Conference opened my eyes to the diverse research focus areas in the STEM field. Innovators culminated with a Gala to celebrate the Scholars and ASF’s 40thAnniversary (see pictures below). I am excited have been welcomed to the ASF network, which has provided incredible support so far, and I look forward to continuing to be involved.
Impact of my Objectives & Key Results (OKRs)
Overall Lessons Learned
Regarding making the most of my summer experience, especially as a return student, I set my objectives and key results to focus on the following: from a technical aspect, I sought to expand on my project and make more significant progress on my experiments. The structure of my lab environment emphasized the value of collaboration and communication, which would involve bridging everyone’s thoughts and learning to always ask questions along the lines of “what, how, and why are we observing what we are currently observing?” in order to drive projects forward. With full ownership and independence in the project I embarked on last summer, having these discussions were instrumental for me to consider different angles to the research. The collaborative atmosphere also helped when navigating challenges, such as reasoning why experiments did not work and overcoming associated roadblocks. Always asking “why” and having a bit of skepticism with anything presented have encouraged me to keep reflecting on the data in the context of what is already known but also unknown in the literature. In essence, embracing curiosity is critical in a laboratory setting.
Being at the NIH, I also wanted to expand my network and obtain a better sense of defining my own career objectives through conversations and insights from others. One conversation that particularly resonated with me was from a meeting I had with NIDA’s Clinical Director, who is a physician-scientist in the addiction medicine field. The theme of our conversation focused on his expertise with translational research, which is the premise of his work. He described situations in which his experiences with patients at the hospital inspired the questions he would pose in the laboratory setting, and how exploration into neurobiological research and having a first-hand advanced perspective of the science would help guide decisions at the clinical level. I thought it was fascinating to see a bridge of both the research and medical spaces, which I had even noticed when reading through his papers that would weave both clinical and pre-clinical findings. He also described his process of connecting-the-dots, which shed light on the developing intersection between research and how cases are treated in the hospital – in other words, bridging the “bench with the bedside” in this field.
Future Applications
Conversations like the discussion I had with the Clinical Director at my workplace strengthened my own desire to pursue the physician-scientist path after undergrad. As a rising senior at Hopkins, I have been reflecting on how I want to navigate my final year before applying to professional programs as well as opportunities that I would like to pursue before joining medical school, such the NIH Post-Baccalaureate program. I had always been keen on pursuing medicine, with a particular interest in pediatrics due to my interests in adolescent health and awareness. I am also a Child Life Volunteer at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, where I have volunteered in multiple departments – from the Cardiac and Transplant Unit to the Harriet Lane Clinic. Over the summer, I continued to volunteer with Child Life at the Pediatrics Emergency Department, and recently developed an informational guide for hopeful distribution to patients and families about the services that Child Life Volunteers provide. Additionally, in June, the Child Life Department hosted their annual picnic to raise awareness of bladder exstrophy, which was an exciting opportunity to facilitate activities for kids!
With my two summers at the NIH, I discovered the enthusiasm I had in wanting to learn more about medical diseases and public health crises that I am passionate about through a molecular biological lens. I started to recognize my academic interests while pursuing my Molecular and Cellular Biology major and was excited to be able to apply the knowledge to a research setting at the NIH. My public health major at Hopkins has also encouraged me to consider how health-related work affects the greater community, providing more insight into the translational component of research with medicine. Ultimately, in addition to gaining the technical experiences of research at my summer internship, I am grateful that the opportunity has provided me with much more clarity into how I wish to navigate my career moving forward.
