My name is Ace, I work here at UCSF in cell and tissue biology program.
So our lab focuses on a few things, there's research into the process which contribute
to forming cleft lip and palate, which is a birth defect.
So this is a developmental biology lab, which means we primarily, in as far as clinical
significance goes, we look at things that have to do with birth defects and congenital
disorders like that.
And the ultimate goal in that case, in all of these cases, is after you understand how
these things go awry in development then you can look at trying to fix them without ultra
complicated surgeries.
I was born in LA, my family moved when I was fairly young to Northern California but not
the Bay area.
And they are not educated.
They're smart but they're not educated, my dad and my mom raised me and spent all their
efforts on that and my brother, and my sister who were younger than me and that's, you know,
that's what their life was, taking care of their kids, which is, just not this.
But yeah so, it's, I didn't come from a family of scientists.
I just came from a family of people who worked hard and were loving.
So, what we do is called basic science, which means we're laying groundwork and building
comprehension of the processes which then later on, translational and or clinical scientists
will go in and try to apply that to human medicine.
It's on a day to day basis, I, I'm at the bench a good amount of time, I'm at my desk
because it involves a lot of reading and a fair amount of, you know, sometimes a lot
of writing, but not always, only when it's time to write.
But it's always a lot of reading, you have to keep up to date on the things that are
related that other people are looking at so that you have a good idea of where you're
gonna go next.
Well really this work is all about learning.
So, you have to want to learn and you have to be interested in knowing new things that
aren't known before.
So that's, that's the driving, that's what I like about it so much is that you get to
ask questions and you need to want to learn new things.
That's like absolutely paramount, if you're not interested in learning then this isn't
the right thing.
So you know, before I got into, well not before I got into it, but before I was really working
in a lab on a dedicated research project.
You always hear, I always heard anyway at the end of high school and like in my undergraduate
time that lab work is super competitive and you have to watch out for people stealing
your data and you have to make sure no one takes your things or messes up what you're
doing, and it's just, it, there's this really negative taste that people were conveying
to me and I would say that now that I'm here and working in it and living in it, it's nothing
like that whatsoever.
Like this entire floor here, we're four labs on this floor but it's very, it's very helpful,
like if you are not quite sure how to do something you can ask anyone in the lab, or in another
lab or within the program, I could go this, you know, way my department encompasses labs
more than just on this floor.
And it's, it's, it's really helpful.
Well, it's, I mean, it's a supremely important field.
The advance of medicine is kind of a hallmark of human society over, over lesser species,
and you know previous culture even.
It's, it's import, I feel really, really wonderful that I can do something that stimulates me
in this way and is also contributing to a much larger purpose.