Bertram's Internship Experience
Hi, I am Bertram, a Year 3 undergraduate studying Environmental Earth Systems Science in ASE. At the end of my Year 2 undergraduate studies, it was finally time for my credit-bearing internship. And as someone who enjoys research and insects, there was no better place for me to intern than the TEE Lab (thank you Prof Eleanor!).
Being an intern in the TEE Lab meant that I got to help out with multiple different projects, from DNA extraction and photographing tiny beetles to curating dung beetles and even sorting through soil samples for roots and invertebrates.
Through the many hours spent in the molecular lab, I learnt many new things, such as using the Qiagen DNeasy kit, performing PCR amplification, DNA sequencing, and gel electrophoresis, as well as interpreting data from DNA sequencing. These are just some of the many valuable skills I picked up in the lab, alongside remembering to wear my lab coat and gloves every time I enter.
Outside the molecular lab, I learnt how to curate dung beetles, such as how to point-mount and pin specimens, as well as how to identify certain species based on their morphological features. Digitising information from specimens brought in from other countries was also quite eye-opening, as it forced me to learn how to decipher some very interesting (and messy) handwriting. I also learnt how to distinguish roots from sticks in soil samples, which can take hours to finish for a single sample. While it was tiring, it was pretty cool being able to identify roots from tiny sticks.
All this work might sound super tedious, especially for someone new to the lab, but the people in the lab made the experience super enjoyable. The hours spent in the molecular lab were made much more enjoyable by the endless yapping with Xin Rui, my supervisor. After every molecular lab session, I could also always find Zann, Calvin, and Sonia, who I had a great time chatting with and learning new things from!
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