So my name is Wenyuan.
You guys can call me Wen.
So I study molecular biology in UCLA in Dr. Hanna Mikkola's lab.
Specifically I study the gene regulation function in modulating DNA repair and also trying to
apply that into aging process so we can finally help people to rejuvenate their aging process
to reduce their age related immune disease.
So I become a scientist mostly for two major reason.
One is curiosity.
The other I would say is trying to make an impact into life.
So we know that in the field of science there's always endless questions.
We're always asked to explore the unknown so that really satisfy my curiosity.
And also I would like to make an impact.
I know that by studying my disease model or by studying the immunity in the system I could
actually eventually help people to improve their health.
My lab life is very happy.
It's very flexible.
I come into lab every day based on how much work I have to do.
I do some readings.
I do some experiments.
Also I relax a little bit when there's incubation time.
We chat with each other.
We are all good friends with different labs.
We listen to music in the cell culture hood while doing cell culture.
There is a lot of fun.
My scientific lab focused on genetic models so we use models to tackle the different questions
in there so specifically I do a lot of flow cytometry so those are immunofluorescent based
color sorting so that we can look at cells at single cell level one by one to see whether
they express the marker we are interested in or not.
In addition to that I also do cell culture where we can grow the cells in the incubator
where we will see loss of a gene could lead to defective functions there.
And beside that we do also gene expression analysis and genomic analysis.
So those are more of a chemical approach towards the gene expression modifications.
So we do PCRs.
We do sequencings in the lab.
So to translate my project into clinical approach there are two different routes I can foresee
right now.
One way that's really promising is regenerative medicine right now so we could ideally modify
the stem cell from a donor and then we can transplant it back to the recipient so we
that can have a healthy stem cell in the diseased patients which helps them to generate normal
functional cells.
So eventually I would want my project to at least to where we understand why DNA repair
are disregulated during aging and how we can improve that situation so we will have a healthy,
normal immune function in the old people.
The most part I like about scientific life I would say is excitement.
I was never bored.
I was every day there is more question for me to tackle.
I was always running into different problems.
Being able to solve problems really give me achievement.
So for those are you who are really interested in science, who are really interested in biology
yes, I strongly encourage you to talk to people.
It's not scary at all.
The scientists are usually very nice.
We're all like family style in the lab.
Try to follow your heart whether this is the kind of life you would enjoy if you want to
make an impact into the real world I would strongly encourage you to explore a little
bit about the life of a scientist.