Daniel

Daniel
Concord-Carlisle Regional High School
Concord, MA  

Mentor:
Soohong Kim
Blainey Lab

Despite being interested in science from an early age, Daniel didn’t quite understand how one would go about “doing science” until he took his first high school biology class. After several lab experiences, he realized that scientific research was something he could do; it wasn’t just a mysterious process through which discoveries were made. Daniel decided to apply to BSSP to see what it was like to conduct original, cutting-edge research without the careful guidelines provided at school.

Daniel spent his summer trying to optimize RNA library preparation using a microfluidic chip. Before samples of RNA can be sequenced, they must first be broken down into groups of short, easily processed fragments called libraries. Generally this preparation requires expensive reagents and can take a lot of time. The hope is that a microfluidic chip will greatly reduce the cost of this process and allow for more extensive studies that require RNA sequencing.

Throughout the summer, Daniel enjoyed being part of a community committed to solving problems that have a direct impact on society. “While at school I would usually listen to how others made scientific contributions, or I would be given a task that I could complete within one day. Here at the Broad I face larger, more difficult problems that I personally must help solve,” said Daniel.