What an Inspirational Experience!

Name: Pensi Lam Ping Hei
Institute: Yale Cancer Center
University: Yale University
Period: Summer, 2014

What an Inspirational Experience!

Lucky ME! I went to Dr. Katerina Politi's lab on lung cancer research in Yale, the lab is under the Yale Cancer Centre and Department of Pathology of Yale School of Medicine. The active interactions within the lab, the way how meetings are held, and how I am patiently guided, all intrigue me and make me feel grateful that I do not solely learn lab skills, but much much more.

The part of work I am focusing is related to lung cancer drug resistance. My main lab work is mRNA extraction from tumor tissues and cells, to eye on if they carry the mutations they supposed to have. I also learn giving xenograft mice drugs to see their tumor responses. These are new skills I obtained in Yale.

I love the lab culture here, Politi's lab holds meeting every week and besides people updating their lab works, they will spend time on journal pub, i.e. discussing fun or interesting papers. Even for topics like "if praying helps patients with bloodstream infection ", they will analyze rationally on the research methods. And I like how everyone is actively involved in the lab meetings, throwing questions and helping brainstorming.

Among all, one of the most inspiring events must be the translational lung cancer meeting. It is a weekly lunch meeting with free decent food, where doctors and researchers will present findings and patient cases. I truly get inspired by the frequent academic exchange between the bedside and bench-side, as this shall bring the maximal benefits to patients.

I treasure time in lab as I wish to focus on lung cancer molecular research in the future. The Yale exchange definitely granted me insights that one may not easily perceive in Hong Kong.

Leibovici L . Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection (randomized controlled trial) .BMJ. . 2001;323:1450–1451