Grace's Internship at Buck Institute

This summer, Grace got a valuable opportunity to work as an intern at the Buck Institute (http://www.buckinstitute.org) for 6 weeks along with 13 other high school students, and actually received stipend at the end. The Buck Institute is a non-profit research institute on aging process. Her work involved mitochondria, the energy producing component in a cell. Under a post-doc's supervision, Grace learned to do some simple lab experiments, and related calculations.

Grace's work investigates the effect of membrane potential on ROS (reactive oxygen species, also known as free radicals). The figure below says that electrons generated by succinate oxidation may travel in reverse through complex I and result in high rates of ROS production, and the process could result in high membrane potential. FCCP uncouples mitochondrial membrane potential.

During this time, one of our favorite dinner table topics was her day's work at the institute. The whole family learned a few things regarding cell biology along with her. At the end of the internship, Grace gave a Powerpoint presentation to her lab, and the whole family.

All of the students are required to give a poster presentation at end. The family and friends were invited to the occasion. Having been to many scientific conferences, I was very much impressed by all the posters. All of them are very focused. I had the opportunity to listen to many the the presenters, and was impressed by their understanding of the material. The director of the institute made an effort to walk around the posters and picked three to present at the next day's scientific board meeting. Grace's poster won the first prize among the three. She was invited for lunch and presentation next day. It was such a valueble experience for her.