1. Summer Mentorship Log
2. Manjula Gunawardana
(626) 817-0883
m.gunawardana@oak-crest.org
3. What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience? List them.
- How are the symbiotic relationships between microorganisms determined?
- How are functional genes isolated?
- What is the nature of the competition that occurs between labs researching similar topics?
4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
I gained a detailed insight into biological research and a deeper understanding of science as a whole. Scientific fields are far more interconnected than I previously thought. In fact, my mentor made it quite clear to me that biologists often do more chemistry than biology, and I learned that there is such a thing as a microbial ecologist (ecology + microbiology) and laser chemist (laser physics + chemistry). When I voiced my interest in marine biology, he also exposed me to how techniques used in a lab like Oak Crest are transferrable to a marine biology lab. I've also realized how foundational group work is to a research lab. There is a great sense of community at Oak Crest and people from varying fields work together to accomplish common goals. Furthermore, I see now that research science is a way of life. My mentor lives and breaths what he does. It's a constant learning experience and no question is too dumb to ask. I think I've gained a measure of intellectual freedom and fearlessness from this realization - or, rather, confirmation of what I've known, but not fully understood, for a while.
5. How did what you did help you choose a topic? Please explain.
I've decided to choose microbiology as my topic, as my mentor has agreed to include me in an extremophile research project. I'm considering making my EQ something along the lines of "What is the most useful application of extremophile research?" I haven't decided how to define "useful" yet, but this is a good start and there exist three possible answers to this EQ... Microbiology is a fairly diverse - and interesting - field with so many applications, from pharmaceutical to environmental to astrobiological (hint hint). It also helps that my mentor is a microbiologist himself.
