Post #2
Working in a Lab
So Radiation class was insanely boring. As many work certifications can be. They spent more time talking about how something works than explaining standard operating procedure for working with the materials. But, good news, I can now do assays requiring radioactive materials! Yay!
I took a Molecular Biology Techniques workshop a few days ago at BTI in Canton/Fells Point. Lots of learning, lots of practice and a burger waiting down the road after. Plus, work paid for the training.
I also had an Access 2007 class this week, which was basically waiting for less tech-savvy individuals use a computer. Which was awful. But I get to take three more of these classes over the next few months, so that I can run the database for my lab. One year in and they still have more to teach me!
Last post I talked about how I got my job and what I did in college, so now I’ll tell you about what I do now.
Well, just over a year post-grad, I am still working at the same job I started with after graduation as a Research Technologist. Depending on the lab you are in, that can mean a lot. In the Viral Hepatitis lab that I work in, it means that I am a jack-of-all-trades lab gopher. I do any assay/procedure that other people don’t want to any more. It’s busy, but I keep adding techniques that I have mastered to my resume.
My lab researches (primarily) Hepatitis C in intravenous drug users (IDU) in Baltimore. We get blood samples from IDU every day and process it to study the path of infection and try to figure out how to treat/prevent HCV.
Currently I am a “reserve blood tech,” meaning that I process blood samples when the primary techs are busy or out sick. I have moved on to other things. Now, I do Viral DNA/RNA purifications, gel electrophoresis, immunology assays, and plasmid work. I should be learning how to genotype people in our cohort for SNPs (small nucleotide polymorphisms) soon. If anyone wants to know about these techniques, feel free to comment below.
Working in academia has led me to have a lot of freedom to choose what work with and what I do. It has also given me a lot of things to put in my resume as I move on in my career. Working at Johns Hopkins has also given me the opportunity to obtain a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology without having to pay for all of it.
In my next blog, I will talk about balancing classes, work and my life.
Post #1
Hi everyone!
My name is Brittany Wells. I graduated in May 2010 with a major in Biology and minors in Sociology and Psychology. I now work as a Research Technologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and have since a week and a half after graduation.
I started applying to jobs Spring Break of my Senior year with the goal of obtaining a job immediately after graduation. I applied to probably 30-50 jobs at local hospitals and labs. I got 3 interviews and two offers. I know it sounds like a lot of applications, but in academic scientific research, many jobs are grant-based. Sometimes, the jobs are posted before grants come through and sometimes they stay posted even after someone has been offered the job.
The first job I was offered was a part-time position doing PCR (polymerase chain reactions) for the Genetics core at Hopkins. I had already accepted this position when I heard back from my current job for the Viral Hepatitis Research Center. This was a full-time position with benefits and a full-time salary. I jumped on the opportunity. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to call the previous job and let my interviewer down. It was uncomfortable, but she understood that I had to pursue a better opportunity. And I am so happy that I did. I love my job.
Throughout this blog, I hope to share with you the experiences that I have at work, less than two years out of college, and the experiences and knowledge gained from college that helped me get to where I am today. I am taking on this blog as a way to keep up my writing skills, something that has gone by the wayside since I started at my job.
Next time, I will tell you about what I do, and maybe a bit about the radiation training class I have next week, if it is interesting.
Graduated from McDaniel 2010, applied to a ton of jobs, got one. Going to write about both. Radiation.
