The First Lab May Not Always Be the Right Fit: How I Tried Something New and Found My Passion

When I first came to UNH I was bombarded with information about how I, an undergraduate student, could become involved in research in one of the many labs on campus. The most difficult part of getting into research for me was finding and deciding on a mentor.  As my senior year comes to an end, I see how my journey to find the right lab and mentor as an undergraduate led me to the place I am today—planning to attend graduate school and research molecular biology in plants.

The initial process of finding a lab to work in at UNH took several months over my sophomore year. I spoke with many of my professors in addition to searching for interesting topics on Find Scholars and reaching out to those faculty as well. Not every professor responded, and several weren’t able to take on any new students, but I was invited by some to tour their lab and talk about projects I could possibly work on.  There were so many different topics that interested me but nothing I was dead set on. I had worried that I would need lots of laboratory experience, but I found that professors were understanding of the fact that this would be my first experience in a research lab setting. 

My first lab was at UNH’s Hubbard Center for Genome Studies, where I learned how to prepare gene libraries to be sequenced and assisted in preparing samples sent in from labs across UNH. I did this through the INCO 590 course offered by the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research to give me some experience in a lab setting. I learned to use equipment I had never heard of and participated in the entire process of gene sequencing, such as DNA extraction, library prep, and reverse-transcription PCR of Covid samples. Everyone in the lab was wonderful and taught me so much, but I wasn’t fully satisfied with genes an organism possessed. I wanted to work with something that I was able to interact with more directly like a model organism. I then went to several professors whose labs I had found in Find Scholars with a more refined idea of the type of research I would be interested in pursuing. One professor’s research was in cell signaling in plants. I had never worked with plants in a lab setting before nor much experience taking care of plants, but I knew that I was interested in genetics and cell signaling. Luckily, Dr. Hrabak was interested in having another undergraduate student join her lab.

I started by working with another undergraduate student in the lab on her project which was being funded by the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research, and I learned about the techniques I would need to be able to start my own project including PCR and sterile technique. I then applied for an Undergraduate Research Award (URA) grant from the Hamel Center and was fortunate to get tips from my lab mates on writing the proposal because they had written their own proposals in the past. Working on a project where I was searching for mutant phenotypes in plants with a signaling gene knocked out was far more interesting to me than genomics. I decided to stay in the Hrabak lab until I graduated, and in that time, I received five URAs and a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) from the Hamel Center to work on several related projects. I also presented at the Undergraduate Research Conference for two years in a row.  

I learned to love researching something I knew nothing about beforehand and completely changed my plans for post-graduation because of this newfound fascination with plants. Before this experience I had expected to go into biotech, and now I plan to go into academia and research for a career. The time I spent searching for an undergraduate lab came full circle when I started reaching out to professors at other schools, looking for a PhD program. I felt much more confident talking to those professors about their research than I was when I was first talking to potential mentors for undergraduate research. Fortunately, I found something I was passionate about so that when it came time to apply to graduate school, I was better prepared. I doubt I would be getting ready to start the doctoral program in molecular and cellular biology at Dartmouth if I had stayed in the first lab I joined at UNH and didn’t find a topic for which I am incredibly enthusiastic. 

Even if the first lab you join isn’t a perfect fit, the skills and experience you gain from it will benefit you down the road no matter what lab you end up in. At UNH there is plenty of variety in the types of labs and research being done, so if an opportunity to learn about a new topic interests you more, you should take that opportunity. Every new and different research experience will help shape your idea of what you are interested in and open your mind to finding a topic that you are passionate about.