Meet Kristen Payne
Major: Biology Graduation Year: December 2015 Field of Study: Pharmacology Abstract: I studied Toxoplasma gondii, an especially virulent Apicomplexan parasite, and another closely related Apicomplexan, Neospora caninum. Unique to Apicomplexans are a set of specialized secretory organelles called rhoptries that house secreted rhoptry effector proteins (ROPs). These ROP proteins serve a wide variety of functions inside the host cell, including altering the host's ability to clear the parasite. This disruption of host immunity and inability to clear the parasite crosses species and makes T.gondii especially virulent, and in some cases lethal. This property allows T. gondii to infect virtually any warm-blooded host. In the pathology world, this is an incredible feat, and as such, my research was directed at identifying how host-pathogen interactions contribute to virulence in T. gondii. Once we learn how these host-pathogen interactions occur in T. gondii, our next step was to propose a similar model in Neospora caninum, a parasite within the same phylum that diverged from T. gondii roughly 25 million years ago. The relationship between T. gondii and N.caninum allowed us to study and make inferences about the evolution and conservation of host-pathogen interactions. I used a variety of two-hybrid systems including yeast two-hybrid, dropout media screening, and split-superfolded GFP, to learn more host-pathogen interactions and the surfaces used for binding. |
My Experience:
At first, I was worried that I didn't have the skill set that was required to successfully complete the program. After the first few weeks it became clear to me that it wasn't possible to be prepared for everything that would come my way. A positive attitude, a willingness to learn, and an open, creative mind was my ticket to success. I ended up being alone for my project, but I met with my PI (primary investigator) daily to discuss my results, plans for the day, ect. At times it was difficult being on my project alone because I had to rely mostly on myself to find out the answer to my questions. By and large my lab was doing unique, specific work that had very little outside, supporting information, so it wasn't possible for me to consult Google. I was stuck reading constantly in order to make my own educated guesses about the next logical steps in my project. A positive attitude, a willingness to learn, and an open, creative mind was my ticket to success. As a Green Fellow, I learned how to be truly independent in my work, think critically, and most importantly, I developed a sense of urgency while working. I quickly learned how to plan my day so that I could get the most done. I realized how long it takes to get good data. You can go for weeks and weeks where it doesn't seem like anything is going your way. You're understandably disappointed and hard on yourself, but over time you develop a thicker skin. You start to realize that experiments don't work every time and it isn't your fault. Even the times where it is your fault, the only thing you can do is take a deep breath and start over. There isn't anything else you can do. Then, seemingly out of the blue, everything that you touch works. You get great data, your results are promising, and point you in a certain direction. My PI lovingly refers to that as mojo. Those are the times that you're over the moon excited. You can't trade that feeling for anything. |
A sense of fellowship and friendship is absolutely necessary for your health, but can also give you ideas about how to proceed with your experiments.
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My Advice:
Meet as many people as you possibly can, stay busy, but most importantly stay connected. It's very easy to feel like you're alone all the time. If you don't reach out to people, you will be sad and the program won't be as much fun. I heavily relied on a close group of the other Green Fellows during especially taxing times. Picking your UTD mentor is serious business! Make sure that you actually have a good relationship with your UTD mentor. I consulted my mentor almost weekly and he met us for lunch at the campus more than once for advice, while some of the other Green Fellows didn't hear from theirs but twice during the semester. A sense of fellowship and friendship is absolutely necessary for your health, but can also give you ideas about how to proceed with your experiments.
Meet as many people as you possibly can, stay busy, but most importantly stay connected. It's very easy to feel like you're alone all the time. If you don't reach out to people, you will be sad and the program won't be as much fun. I heavily relied on a close group of the other Green Fellows during especially taxing times. Picking your UTD mentor is serious business! Make sure that you actually have a good relationship with your UTD mentor. I consulted my mentor almost weekly and he met us for lunch at the campus more than once for advice, while some of the other Green Fellows didn't hear from theirs but twice during the semester. A sense of fellowship and friendship is absolutely necessary for your health, but can also give you ideas about how to proceed with your experiments.