MY EXPERIENCE AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

I landed in Boston on August 25th 2011.I was completely excited to be in other part of the world. I was heartily welcomed by people at a Gurudwara. It is located in a place called Medford. The people were so kind and warm. It was a temporary stay for three days. On the third day, we were able to find a house for ourselves. 

      
Our new home was at a place called, Watertown which was just 20 minutes from my lab, by bus. Buses were very frequent and commutation was very easy. I was super excited on the first day of my visit to my lab. I was received by our lab manager, Ms.Melinda Sanchez to the world’s best labs. I worked in Dr.Sengupta’s lab, which mainly focuses on Nanomedicine and targeting cancer with nanoparticles. Melinda introduced the other persons of the lab and also to my mentor Dr.Aaron Goldman. He explained me the projects on which he was working on and gave me full freedom to select my own project. He was so friendly and told me give my own ideas about the projects. 

After talking to people in Harvard Medical School-Health Science and Technology-MIT labs, I realized that I am in a place where you see the world’s most intelligent yet the most humble persons. 





I worked on two projects, Targeting Breast cancer cells in a temporal fashion using Geldanamycin conjugated nanoparticles to counter act HSP 90 mediated increase in survival signals as a consequence of chemotherapy and Chemotherapy-induced Akt survival signaling is regulated by CD44- Ezrin/Radaxin Moesin (ERM) scaffolding, dependent on EGFR activity. 

The thing which impressed me the most was, Students are allowed to make mistakes and they believe that making mistakes is also a part of learning. I was always given full independence to implement my ideas and design my own experiments. Working in such a well-equipped, sophisticated lab was not only fascinating but was also fun. Dr.Goldman was so patient and cool in teaching new techniques. He took care that I learnt every single step of the experiments. He taught me techniques like cell culturing, western blot, FACS, quantitative PCR etc.Even stupidest questions of mine were considered and I got answers. 

The most unforgettable day during in my semester abroad program was my birthday. My lab mates celebrated my birthday and thanks-giving day together with a pot-luck. I received the best birthday gift from my mentor Dr.Aaron Goldman, as he told me that he has sent the abstract of one of my projects to AACR. (American Association for Cancer Research). 

We had weekly lab meetings in which we discussed our research and progresses in our research. Each of us take turn and present a recently published article in the lab meeting. This helped us improve presentation skills and also update ourselves in our area of interest. 

As a result of my hard work and also by God’s grace, one of my projects was accepted by AACR and will be published once the in vivo studies are over. The second project is partially over and we are planning to publish in the journal, “Nanotechnology”. 

Altogether this a life-time experience and I feel very lucky to be a part of Harvard Medical school research labs. I am greatly indebted to our HOD Dr.M.Parani for having confidence in me and sending for this program. I also thank Dr.T.V.Gopal (Dean, International office) for organizing such a wonderful program. I also thank Dr.Shiladitya Sengupta for giving me excellent projects with amazing facilities and sources to work with. 

I also thank my Dad and Mom who has always supported me through out. I would also love to thank my beloved friends and lab mates who have always been there for me and made me feel Boston, a home away from home.


Ishwarya, 
M.Tech Genetic Engineering