Summer Wet Lab Experience

This is designed to give our new students an extensive hands-on experience in a wet-lab collecting data. It consists of a two-month wet-lab immersion in the lab of one of our experimentalist faculty, where students will gain working knowledge of at least one of several high-throughput experimental techniques, including: microarrays, chromatin immunoprecipiation, quantitative RT-PCR, cloning, in situ hybridization, 2-D gels, mass spectrometry, and Western blotting. Organisms studied will include: bacteria, yeast, rodent and human cell cultures, fruitflys, Xenopus oocytes, and the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, among others.

This immersion will occur during the two months preceding the start of first-year classes, a time when students have no other responsibilities and can focus their efforts full-time in the lab. During the two months, students will work on experiments, attend lab meetings, and meet regularly with the faculty supervisor. During a weekly student seminar, students will discuss the techniques they are using, their successes, difficulties, and results. In addition, local outings will be organized for the students to help build camaraderie and ease their transition to graduate school.