Geneva, NY USDA Apple Rootstalk Breeding Program Internship

My name is Elizabeth Rae. I am a Senior in the Genetics and Biotechnology major. Over this past summer, 2014, I was able to work for the USDA in Geneva, NY in an apple breeding program. On this internship the major project I worked was using marker assisted selection to sort out useful individuals from a cross of species. Marker assisted selection (MAS) is used by plant breeders to select for traits with a known genetic connection before expression of the trait is manifest in order to save time and money in the breeding process. Two genetic markers were tested on the members of the recently crossed apple population. The markers are Dwarfing19976 and Wooly Apple Aphid 68101-236. Trees with both of these genetic markers were kept for continued evaluation and all the remaining ones were removed from the program.

The opportunity to go to Geneva, NY to work on this project was irreplaceable. I gained many valuable skills. Most importantly, I made new friends and earned the respect of my superiors. I gained many interpersonal skills and took opportunities to get to know people personally that I might not have taken before. Because I was trying to understand people around me, I orchestrated several trips to local landmarks with other young adults in order to get to know them beyond the job. In all, I have gained technical knowledge and have become more confident with my peers because of this internship experience.

Max Plank: Bioinformatics Internship in Germany

I recently returned from one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life, an internship at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany. What initially caught my attention about this internship was that it was a 3 hour drive from Prague in the Czech Republic, where I had served my mission about a year and a half earlier. Spending the summer in Jena meant that I would get the opportunity to travel with my wife. I was thrilled at the opportunity to return to that part of the world, and eager to learn about about the emerging field of bioinformatics.

When I was accepted into the internship, I was absolutely thrilled. I would be receiving a monthly stipend, so that really helped in covering the cost. However, getting ready for the internship wasn't quite as easy as I had hoped. I was expecting more assistance from the department, but they really just left it up to my wife and I. So that turned out to be quite the learning experience! I decided to do it for credit hours, which is a decision that I highly recommend. I think that knowing that I was doing it all for credit helped me to work as hard as I could. Luckily the secretary at the institute was very helpful, especially in making sure my wife and I had a place to stay when we got there.

Waiting for the internship to finally come was tough, but eventually the day came! After a long plane ride and train ride, the secretary at the institute picked us up at the Jena train station and took us to our new home for the next three months. The next day I met with my advisor Shuqing, who was a post-doc that had been working there for 2 years. He was very understanding of the fact that I was a total beginner, and he made it clear that he was willing to offer as much help as I needed. I would be studying the genome of Nicotiana attenuata, or the tobacco plant. Studying tobacco as a BYU student is ironic, I know, but we were studying tobacco as a model organism to make observations about plants generally.

My work was challenging, but I was determined to be successful. Shuqing said that the amount of time we spent working at the institute was task-based, so the hours I worked were irrelevant as long as I got it done. I soon found out that the tasks I were given took up a LOT of time, and I found myself working about 9-11 hours a day. After the second week I was asked to present my hypothesis to the lab. I was nervous, but with Shuqing's help I was prepared and it went very well. 9-11  hours a week in front of a computer may not sound too thrilling to everyone. The other BYU students that worked in the wet lab teased me a bit for sitting in front of the computer all day. But what I was doing was totally engaging, and only on rare occasion did I feel that it was mundane. As I pressed forward with Shuqing's help, our results were really quite thrilling. We were able to understand transcriptome expression patterns from an evolutionary perspective using interesting new statistical methodologies. By the end of my stay, I had spent a good deal of time discussing my project with Ian, the director of the entire department. He showed a lot of confidence in me, and at the end of my internship he asked me to present my work to the entire department The work I did there will result in one, possibly two papers. I never expected it would go so well, but it did and I am very grateful for that.

In addition to the success I had as a researcher, it was the most fun I have ever had. On the weekends my wife and I would generally rent a car and go for a trip. We went to Prague 3 times, England, Southern Germany and Austria all on the weekends. At the end of our stay we took all the BYU students to Prague, which was really fun for me to do. My advisor Shuqing and I became good friends. We would go rock climbing together and he invited us to a barbecue. After the internship was over, my wife and I traveled Europe three weeks visiting Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, and France. I will never forget the memories that we made during this internship, and I will always look back on it as the beginning of my scientific career!

Obsterics and Gynecology with Dr. Syndergaard

I have shadowed several physicians from different fields of medicine, but my time with Dr. Scott Syndergaard proved to be the most proactive and beneficial for me so far. I had never before followed a Physician who cared so much about me as an individual, and by individual I mean an undergraduate student who hasn’t earned his dues yet in the medical field. Dr. Syndergaard took every opportunity to teach me the "in and outs" of obstetrics and gynecology, as well as mentor me in choices I’m currently facing as I approach medical school.  The three things that helped me learn a great deal while with Dr. Syndergaard were: the honesty he showed his patients in clinic, the hands on experience he provided me in the operation room, and the time he took to sit down and mentor me in between.  

One aspect of how Dr. Syndergaard practices obsterics and gynecology really impressed me. This was how he was always very honest with his patients. Unlike many physicians that are stuck behind a clipboard of questions or resort to whatever their patient is demanding in order to please them, Dr. Syndergaard for a lack of better words was very “real” with every one of his patients. I think that this honesty is a very important attribute in the field of medicine and especially OBGYN, because the majority of the time his patients weren’t just making decisions concerning their own health, but also the health of their prenatal children. Despite his frequent honesty and sometimes blunt responses to middle aged, pregnant, and even adolescent women, Dr. Syndergaard always showed a great care for his patients and would take whatever time was needed to council with them over what path would be best for their health.  I learned a great deal from how he interacted with his patients in the clinic.



I was also able to learn a great deal from Dr. Syndergaard in the operation room. I was privileged to see several types of surgery over the last few months. The two that I felt had the greatest impact on me where a tubal ligation (tying of a woman’s uterine tubes) and a cesarean section delivery. Dr. Syndergaard, while performing his surgeries, would explain to me every procedure and body part he was working on and would even allow me to participate as much as legally possible. For example he would have me hold the light above the table, tools he would use, and even help in the delivery process. These experiences didn’t just teach me more about the female reproductive system and delivery, but inspired me to continuing working hard until I am someday leading surgery on my own patients.   

What I appreciated most about my experience with Dr. Syndergaard, was the time that he took to talk with and mentor me during times outside the OR and clinic. Every day that I followed him, he offered to take me out to lunch. This not only helped my very low, student budget, but gave me the opportunity to ask him questions about things we had seen throughout the day and for advice in the paths I am currently trying to take.These were times that he could have used to catch up on other things, but instead would sit down with me to explain what was going on or answer my various, often naive questions. He didn’t just answer those questions, but would explain the “why” to their answers. He also didn’t just give me advice, but genuinely took the time to mentor me in the decisions I would soon be making. I was very grateful for these times and know they will make a difference over the next year while I’m making many critical decisions. 

Overall, my time with Dr. Syndergaard, including the visits I observed in the clinic, the hands on experience he gave me in the OR, and especially the time he took to sit down and mentor me, helped teach me, inspire me in medicine, and guide me in several of the decisions I will be making in the near future. I was very grateful for his time and sincerity. If anyone has the time or opportunity to be in Roosevelt, Utah, I would highly recommend contacting him or the office of Life Science in order to follow him and have the same experience that I did. 

 Dr. Synderaard is on the left with the other two OBGYN's at UINTAH Medical Basin

This is the front of Roosevelt's Hospital. Although smaller than most we see here in Utah County, it was a very state of the art facility with great people working in each department.