Final Reflection:
As a graduating senior reflecting on the past four years, I can say without a doubt that being a research assistant in the Riffell Lab has been one of the most important and formative experiences of my undergraduate education. When I first discovered the Riffell Lab at the start of my junior year, I was at a bit of a crossroads. I had spent the past year working in a lab that was not a good fit for me, and I was feeling pretty drained and lost in the world of research. Additionally, I had spent the previous month on a study abroad trip in Peru, where I discovered an unexpected passion for ecology. Suddenly I was questioning whether Neuroscience was the right major for me after all-- I certainly wasn’t interested in working with lab rats for the rest of my life. I reached out to Dr. Riffell on a whim after stumbling upon his laboratory webpage one afternoon, unsure if I would even get a response. To my excitement and surprise, Dr. Riffell quickly responded and put me into contact with Gabby Wolff, a postdoctoral researcher in his lab. This marked my introduction to the fascinating world of neuroethology-- an interdisciplinary field on the intersection of neurobiology, ecology, and physiology-- as well as the first lab environment that made me feel genuinely excited to be a scientist.
From the very beginning, I was challenged to do things I never thought I would do as an undergraduate. In one of my first weeks, I learned how to dissect the brain of a honey bee. It goes without saying that bees have very small heads and even smaller brains, so successfully removing the brain under a microscope without destroying it is no easy task. It took a few tries and a fair amount of internal cursing, but when I finally succeeded I was so proud. I remember holding my phone camera up to the microscope eyepiece to take pictures, and then immediately sending them to my (rather bewildered) friends and family. I was stunned that I could see various structures so clearly-- mushroom bodies, antennal nerves, parts of the retina-- even in such a tiny brain.
Over time, I learned how to dissect out the brains of several other small insects, even fine-tuning my microdissection skills enough to successfully remove the antennae and proboscises of mosquitoes while keeping the brain tissue intact. These skills came in handy when I started my neuroscience laboratory courses-- NEUSCI 301 and 302-- where microdissection played a key role. One of the toughest dissections in NEUSCI 301 involved removing a single segmental ganglion from the central nervous system of a leech-- a task that requires extreme precision and control. It was a daunting task, but since I’d built up my microdissection skills through my work in the Riffell lab, I was able to successfully isolate the ganglion and complete the lab assignment. In NEUSCI 302, I found even more parallels between my coursework and my lab work. NEUSCI 302 is a systems neuroscience course with a strong focus on neuroethology, and it quickly became one of my favorite courses of all time. We studied animal behaviors such as bat echolocation and mormyridae fish electrocommunication, and then used these systems to explore the neural mechanisms behind the behaviors. This class, combined with my research in the Riffell lab, cemented my love for neuroethology and renewed my excitement for research.
Some of the most challenging and rewarding moments of my research experience arose from the independent project I worked on for my undergraduate thesis. In a project that spanned over a year, I set out to investigate olfactory learning and memory in the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus through a combination of behavioral experiments and histological analyses. I developed a research question based on recent publications in the Riffell Lab, and with the guidance of my mentor I learned how to formulate my hypotheses and navigate the laborious world of experimental troubleshooting. There are many skills that are necessary to be a scientist, but based on my experience, patience and persistence have to be two of the most important.
Things can and will go haywire during experiments; circumstances are often unpredictable, results can be unexpected, and animals behave in unusual ways. For example, my behavioral experiments focused on the olfactory system, but mosquitoes are extremely sensitive to odors and this was often difficult to control for. Results could be skewed by any uncontrolled odors in the room, and since I was working in a large, shared basement in Kincaid hall, there were many potential sources for strange smells that could cause erratic behavior in the mosquitoes. However, with patience and a lot of trial and error, we were able to mitigate the majority of these interferences and move forward with the project. Initially, I was sometimes disheartened by the slow progress and took any mistakes I made to heart. Over time, however, I realized that this was all part of the process of learning, reevaluating, troubleshooting, and moving forward. I became much more confident in my work, and felt proud when things went smoothly. I stopped viewing complications as failures, and treated them as new challenges instead.
There were a variety of technical difficulties that had to be overcome on a regular basis, such as equipment malfunctions or structural obstacles. Sometimes, I was able to troubleshoot independently by tinkering with the equipment or experimenting with different methods, and these occasions helped me build confidence in my technical skills. Often, however, the challenges required working together with my mentors and fellow researchers to find solutions, so I regularly collaborated with others as a team in addition to my individual work. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to get to know the rest of the Riffell Lab team, as they were all endlessly kind and supportive, and they created one of the most welcoming work environments I have ever been a part of. I couldn’t have done any of it without my incredible mentor, Gabby Wolff, who supported me every step of the way with patience, compassion, and humor. She embodied what it means to be a strong mentor and made this experience a truly impactful one.
Overall, this research position influenced my education in so many ways, and my undergraduate experience would not have been the same without it. I exceeded my original goals, and I was even awarded the Mary Gates Research Scholarship for two quarters to fund my work. Now, I am in the process of writing my undergraduate thesis for Departmental Honors in Neuroscience, finalizing this experience by compiling all of my results into a paper. I will also be presenting my work at the Undergraduate Research Symposium for the second year in a row, although the symposium will be held online this year. Sadly, all undergraduate research has been halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so I am not able to complete all of the work I had planned. Nonetheless, I am so grateful to have had this opportunity, and I am hopeful that my results will shed some light on the olfactory learning mechanisms of Culex quinquefasciatus-- or at least inspire new investigations in the future. For now, I hope to continue on the research trajectory, using the skills I have learned to become a better scientist and take on new challenges. I intend to continue my education in graduate school, and plan on using my interest in neuroethology as a starting point for my career path moving forward.
From the very beginning, I was challenged to do things I never thought I would do as an undergraduate. In one of my first weeks, I learned how to dissect the brain of a honey bee. It goes without saying that bees have very small heads and even smaller brains, so successfully removing the brain under a microscope without destroying it is no easy task. It took a few tries and a fair amount of internal cursing, but when I finally succeeded I was so proud. I remember holding my phone camera up to the microscope eyepiece to take pictures, and then immediately sending them to my (rather bewildered) friends and family. I was stunned that I could see various structures so clearly-- mushroom bodies, antennal nerves, parts of the retina-- even in such a tiny brain.
Over time, I learned how to dissect out the brains of several other small insects, even fine-tuning my microdissection skills enough to successfully remove the antennae and proboscises of mosquitoes while keeping the brain tissue intact. These skills came in handy when I started my neuroscience laboratory courses-- NEUSCI 301 and 302-- where microdissection played a key role. One of the toughest dissections in NEUSCI 301 involved removing a single segmental ganglion from the central nervous system of a leech-- a task that requires extreme precision and control. It was a daunting task, but since I’d built up my microdissection skills through my work in the Riffell lab, I was able to successfully isolate the ganglion and complete the lab assignment. In NEUSCI 302, I found even more parallels between my coursework and my lab work. NEUSCI 302 is a systems neuroscience course with a strong focus on neuroethology, and it quickly became one of my favorite courses of all time. We studied animal behaviors such as bat echolocation and mormyridae fish electrocommunication, and then used these systems to explore the neural mechanisms behind the behaviors. This class, combined with my research in the Riffell lab, cemented my love for neuroethology and renewed my excitement for research.
Some of the most challenging and rewarding moments of my research experience arose from the independent project I worked on for my undergraduate thesis. In a project that spanned over a year, I set out to investigate olfactory learning and memory in the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus through a combination of behavioral experiments and histological analyses. I developed a research question based on recent publications in the Riffell Lab, and with the guidance of my mentor I learned how to formulate my hypotheses and navigate the laborious world of experimental troubleshooting. There are many skills that are necessary to be a scientist, but based on my experience, patience and persistence have to be two of the most important.
Things can and will go haywire during experiments; circumstances are often unpredictable, results can be unexpected, and animals behave in unusual ways. For example, my behavioral experiments focused on the olfactory system, but mosquitoes are extremely sensitive to odors and this was often difficult to control for. Results could be skewed by any uncontrolled odors in the room, and since I was working in a large, shared basement in Kincaid hall, there were many potential sources for strange smells that could cause erratic behavior in the mosquitoes. However, with patience and a lot of trial and error, we were able to mitigate the majority of these interferences and move forward with the project. Initially, I was sometimes disheartened by the slow progress and took any mistakes I made to heart. Over time, however, I realized that this was all part of the process of learning, reevaluating, troubleshooting, and moving forward. I became much more confident in my work, and felt proud when things went smoothly. I stopped viewing complications as failures, and treated them as new challenges instead.
There were a variety of technical difficulties that had to be overcome on a regular basis, such as equipment malfunctions or structural obstacles. Sometimes, I was able to troubleshoot independently by tinkering with the equipment or experimenting with different methods, and these occasions helped me build confidence in my technical skills. Often, however, the challenges required working together with my mentors and fellow researchers to find solutions, so I regularly collaborated with others as a team in addition to my individual work. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to get to know the rest of the Riffell Lab team, as they were all endlessly kind and supportive, and they created one of the most welcoming work environments I have ever been a part of. I couldn’t have done any of it without my incredible mentor, Gabby Wolff, who supported me every step of the way with patience, compassion, and humor. She embodied what it means to be a strong mentor and made this experience a truly impactful one.
Overall, this research position influenced my education in so many ways, and my undergraduate experience would not have been the same without it. I exceeded my original goals, and I was even awarded the Mary Gates Research Scholarship for two quarters to fund my work. Now, I am in the process of writing my undergraduate thesis for Departmental Honors in Neuroscience, finalizing this experience by compiling all of my results into a paper. I will also be presenting my work at the Undergraduate Research Symposium for the second year in a row, although the symposium will be held online this year. Sadly, all undergraduate research has been halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so I am not able to complete all of the work I had planned. Nonetheless, I am so grateful to have had this opportunity, and I am hopeful that my results will shed some light on the olfactory learning mechanisms of Culex quinquefasciatus-- or at least inspire new investigations in the future. For now, I hope to continue on the research trajectory, using the skills I have learned to become a better scientist and take on new challenges. I intend to continue my education in graduate school, and plan on using my interest in neuroethology as a starting point for my career path moving forward.
This was my poster presentation video for the virtual Undergraduate Research Symposium. It was challenging to have to turn my poster presentation into a 3-minute elevator-pitch style video, but it ended up being a good exercise in being concise and picking out the most important points.