Finding Research Opportunities — Tips From Exec
Hello! As the executive board of a magazine hoping to make research more accessible, we wanted to share some tips for how to find your way into research yourself if that is something you’re interested in!
Our panel is:
Isaac Hwang ‘25, Co-Editor in Chief: ihwang1@unc.edu
Natalie Druffner ‘26, Secretary/Treasurer: natdruff@unc.edu
Sprihaa Kolanukuduru ‘25, Associate Editor: sprihaak@email.unc.edu
We have all been involved in research for most of our time here at Carolina: Isaac works at the Schisler Lab in the Department of Pharmacology and has been there for 3 years. Natalie works at the Jackson Lab in the Department of Chemistry and has been there for 4 months, working at other labs prior. Sprihaa works at the Eroglu Lab at Duke (go heels!) and has been there for 2.5 years.
Here are our answers to some common questions we hear!:
How did you figure out your research interest? How did you decide what department of labs you wanted to join?
Isaac: I was really interested in the vital organs that they were studying in the lab. Their research focus is on the heart and brain.
Natalie: As a double major, my class schedule is always busy, so I knew I wanted to do CHEM 395, which is basically doing research for credit for my chem major. That led me to look for a lab within the Chem Department, and from there I looked for a lab that would be a good transition from my last lab, where my project focused on photocatalysis. The Jackson lab does electrocatalysis, so it ended up being a good fit!
Sprihaa: I realized I really liked studying the brain, and in the past I had read a paper on astrocytes (the cell type I study) and was pretty intrigued by them. I realized pretty easily that I wanted to be more of a wet lab researcher, so I emailed many PIs that did neurobiology/astrocyte/synapse work to see where they would take me.
How did you join your lab?
Isaac: I joined through a Work Study-JobX
Natalie: I let a Chem professor know I was looking for a new opportunity, and she put me into contact with one of her colleagues, my current PI.
Sprihaa: I cold emailed labs a lot at UNC, but I was reached out to by my current mentor.
*Note: We will put out more info on how to cold email soon, so keep an eye out for that! 🙂
What did your first semester look like in the lab?
Isaac: My first semester was spent learning which graduate student I worked best with and I spent it doing some more menial tasks like autoclaving. I shadowed and worked with each graduate student and learned about their work so that I could figure out which project I wanted to be a part of.
Natalie: This semester is my first semester in the lab! Essentially I work in the lab about 6 hours/week (since it’s not for course credit yet, there’s no minimum number of hours I have to be in the lab). I also attend lab meetings every week. The first couple weeks of the semester, the grad student I’m working with showed me the basics of electrochemical experiments and techniques. After that, she let me work on my own, since my project right now involves running the same tests over and over to collect lots of data. So far, I’m enjoying getting to learn about an area of chemistry that isn’t focused on in any intro chem classes!
Sprihaa: I was learning how to do more basic experiments like running a PCR reaction and loading and running a gel. I also shadowed my mentor doing other experiments and did a mini-journal club with her once in a while to increase my knowledge. My first semester very much was a ‘see one, do one, teach one,’ type of learning process.
If this is not the only lab you have been in, did you use your past experience to join your current lab? If so, how?
Isaac: I also joined a TB lab in my sophomore year because I wanted to do my own project in a different lab. I was able to use my training in a wet lab to help boost my resume.
Natalie: My last lab at UNC was in the Applied Physical Sciences Department, so there definitely is some content overlap between that and chemistry since chemistry is a physical science. Overall, my experience in my first lab helped me feel more comfortable in a lab setting and taught me how to communicate with my PI/research mentor.
And that’s it! Hopefully, this post serves as proof that there are many ways to get involved in research, and that everyone’s experience looks slightly different. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to Isaac, Natalie, or Sprihaa!