Scott Higgins Week 1

Writing this on Friday, June 23, after completing my first week of EXP at Columbia University, I can certainly say that my experience is shaping up to be quite unique. Unfortunately, my sleeping arrangement through a friend that I thought was secure since October fell through, and I commute every day from my home in Skillman, New Jersey, to the 20th floor of the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital on 168th Street in New York City. 

Thankfully, I am no stranger to long train rides and commuting, so this does not really pose an issue to me. On my first day, I got up at 7:20, took an 8:30 train that brought me to New York Penn Station, on 34th Street. Thankfully, the A subway line brings me directly to 168th Street, so from the time I step on the train to my arrival at the workspace, I never really set foot outside for more than 30 seconds.

 

I arrived at the hospital around 10:30, but I did not have to be there until 12:30 (I wanted to be extra early on my first day just in case), so I waited in the surrounding area for a while, getting lunch at McDonald’s, walking around the area near the hospital, until the time I planned on actually arriving: 12:12. I waited in the lobby to eventually be greeted by the postdoc who will be overseeing me, Kayla. We chatted about my commute as we took the long elevator ride up to the top floor of this historic building. While the building itself is quite old, the workspace in particular is beautiful and very modern, with breathtaking views of New York City. I was briefly introduced to the other members of the lab, as we had lab meeting at 12:30. Preceding the actual commencement of this meeting, the members of the lab joked around and conversed, making me feel 20 times more comfortable. I shook hands with the primary investigator of the lab and introduced myself, then the meeting began. The typical template for a lab meeting here is that one member does “Journal Club”, which essentially means reading/presenting a piece of relevant literature to the group. Following this, there is a discussion regarding each member’s project and their respective progress. Yet this meeting was a little out of the ordinary according to Kayla, as there were two longer presentations. The first was done by a man named Victor, who was finishing up his time at this lab and discussed all of his progress here. It was an extensive look at his computational creations and was very well put together. Following this, a surgeon from the hospital came up to discuss a project that he was looking for assistance in, which related to cardiac surgery and risk factors of each patient, seeking to create a way to analyze previous patient data and apply it to new patients pre-surgery. After his presentation, the members of the lab discussed their ideas about the data and what they could do with it, something I found very interesting. When this concluded, Kayla and I chatted for around an hour, where I learned about her story and how she ended up here, which was quite fascinating. We discussed that my time here would have certain limitations because as a minor that is not employed by the University, I cannot legally access the medical data and records of private patients. This would not be too much of a problem, as the project that she and I will be working on uses publicly available metabolic data in order to establish connections between drugs and regular household products, which I am very interested in. We talked about the EXP program and what it meant, my academic background and availability, and some more logistical details. She informed me that she, the PI, and I would meet the following day to discuss the days that I will be in the workspace assisting her in this research. I was extremely nervous, and the next morning got up at 6 AM to prepare for this 11AM meeting. It was around 9:00 when I arrived to see a text that the meeting would be postponed to another day. It was no big deal, but just exemplified the idea that this is a real stay in a lab, not any sort of camp or program, and that things like this happen. When the meeting happened, the PI, Kayla, and I all discussed relevant papers and how Kayla’s project would work. Following this, we confirmed which days of the week I would be in the lab. This space is not like what I imagine some/most of yours is like, as there is no real “lab” on the floor with work stations, centrifuges, and pipettes. 95% of their work deals with the data that they have access to, so the “lab” space is a lot of conference rooms and cubicles. Yet all of these cubicles are typically occupied, so I work in a conference room that requires advanced booking. That being said, the plan is for me to come in Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and work in the conference room with Kayla and a Masters student collaboratively regarding the metabolomics project, while the following days I will work from home since space is limited. I am looking forward to diving into this project next week and keeping you guys updated! Inserted are some pictures of the space and the surroundings.