Intern stories
Joe Dean, University of Iowa
What projects did you take part in during your internship?
My project investigated a specific enzyme within purine metabolism called Adenylosuccinate Lyase (ADSL). Specifically, I was working to see the effects of degrading the enzyme within the non-small cell lung cancer cells and its impact on cell proliferation to see the potential in targeting ADSL as a therapeutic target. Another project I worked on was finding which lysine residues on ADSL lead to degradation in the lysosome. My work involved performing knockdowns, Western blotting, transfections, transductions, and gaining exposure to many other molecular biology techniques.
How did you get the internship?
The program, at the University of Iowa, was called the Biochemistry Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (BSURF). This program is not officially an REU as it wasn't funded by NSF, but it followed the same structure (to look for REUs, I recommend using the NSF website). I found this opportunity by regularly checking university websites for summer research programs, with the University of Iowa being one of them. I was also encouraged to apply by Dr. Leonard, who had been notified about this specific internship and highlighted it to me. The deadline was about the middle of February, and I started working on the application (along with the others I applied to) around the middle of November. This program required a 1-page research statement, a 1-page personal statement, and 2 recommendations (along with a transcript and a CV/resume). This specific program's application was not too lengthy; however, most REUs do require more or longer essays, so I recommend starting the process early so you're not rushed.
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