Too late to head to the dining hall, I quickly completed my morning routine and grabbed a muffin for breakfast. 

I listened to music on the way to CHAS with my roommate (ANNA B) whose energy I wish I could reciprocate this morning. Arriving at CHAS, my lab group began working on our paper (it’s due tomorrow!). But after getting our IC50 value checked over, it was determined we would need to redo the entire procedure for the I1 inhibitor (redoing procedures is a frequent occurrence here at SSP. But that’s how we learn!). My skirt would not work for wet lab, so I raced back to the dorms for long pants. When I returned my team re-ran the procedure and achieved a somewhat adequate dose-response curve!

For lunch, I went to Starbucks, which would be vital to get me through the four remaining lectures for the day. My friends and I also explored the farmers market that is on Purdue campus on Thursdays. There is international cuisine, baked goods, flowers, and jewelry available. I enjoyed viewing these objects before being quickly sucked back into the harsh reality of MOE. 

We then moved on to lectures which were special today because it was our first time hearing from our TAs! Lauren discussed ketamine as a treatment option for OCD that could be tested in mice. Then we (mostly unsuccessfully) attempted to make mice (out of mini sheets of paper). 

Our guest speaker following that was a biochemistry researcher from Indiana University. After his engaging lecture about RNA’s significance to the origin of life, we asked questions and enjoyed snacks at the reception. 

We had our usual formal dinner at Ford today and, with Dr. Avard at my table, had engaging conversations about the impending doom our society faces as AI grows more powerful. We decided, for our own safety, that using “please” and “thank you” would be necessary when interacting with ChatGPT. 

As we get closer to the end of the program, we’ve become busier, and so this evening was not free time. After dinner, we headed back to the dorms to change and then back to the great hall (the Harry Potter room) for two more lectures till 10 pm. In the drug mechanisms lecture, Dr. Avard informed us of yet another impending doom: a super bacteria resistant to all antibiotics that would emerge in the coming decades. The second lecture of the night would be about the publication process. We would be humbly surprised to find that researchers pay to publish their work rather than getting paid to do it. Our unrestrained– and often silly– questions, along with the distraction of a plane that incessantly flew above our area, pushed the lecture  20 minutes over. But it was okay since we were outside and the night air made it almost possible to forget I had a paper due in mere hours. 

Somehow, in the midst of this day, I tried to find the time to finish the final report, due at 8 am tomorrow. I worked throughout the day (between lectures and lab and during or before meals) but I knew it would still be a long night trying to finish! Or so I thought! Luckily, my group members had the same idea in mind. By all working on it throughout the day, we were nearly finished. We completed our abstract in 20 minutes and well before curfew. 

Although the day was cumbersome, it ended in triumph. 

– Yohanna 

The post Day 31- DISCLAIMER: written the night before our final report was due. May contain dry sarcasm. (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.

After working for about three hours on my research paper, I pivoted to working on MOE, Molecular Modeling Environment, with the rest of my team to compete and submit our modified inhibitor for the inhibitor challenge, which is due at 11 a.m. today. I eventually finished my inhibitor, which has a binding affinity of 11.54, that is surprisingly exemplary compared to the rest of Purdue I and my cohort. Once finished with all the work that needed to be done at the moment, I went to my favorite restaurant at Purdue, Grilled Chicken and Rice (please visit it if you are ever on Purdue’s campus), with all of my friends for the final time. I joked with all of my friends and ate delicious food, which is one of my favorite lunches as I look back on it now.

However, I want to talk about yesterday’s fantastic talent show! I made so many memories, from watching others play musical instruments to a brain-rot circus with all of my goofy friends! The talent show topped off my time at SSP, as all of the participants showed their unique sides of themselves and had fun!

Moving on to the rest of my today, after lunch, I went back to my dorm to finish working on some of the work that needs to be done by tomorrow with the assistance of my teammates, Riya and Elbert. After around two hours, we finished the final report with the collective desire to recuperate after relaxing and heading to dinner. After relaxing by hanging out with some friends and discussing our plans after SSP, we all went down to the main restaurant area in West Layfette to eat ramen. I sadly do not have any pictures of us eating because of how much I enjoyed the food I was eating and the fun time I had with my friends.

After dinner, I went back to the dorms to work with my team on the final paper before going to the fields for an annual field day with the entire cohort and facility. We played all kinds of games, from tug-a-rope to various relay races with randomly selected groups. I had a blast spending my time with the cohort and facility as we spent our final days of SSP together.

After the field day, I went back to the dorms to once again work on my paper. I also spent some time with my friends before going to sleep around 11:30, as usual. I was hyped for the upcoming day!

-Cyrus

The post Day 34- The Final Days (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.

This morning started off like usual; my alarm woke me up at 6:30, I snoozed it, it woke me up again, I snoozed it again… Until I opened my eyes and I was running late! I quickly got ready, then headed off to breakfast at Ford Dining Hall with Hana and Jimmy, who are also some of the few people who go to breakfast in the morning (Figure 1).

After breakfast, we headed off to the pharmacy building for the first lecture of the day (Figure 2). We also walked with Leyu and Andrew (from Biochem I) this morning; it’s so sad that today is their last full day here (Figure 10)! We will miss you!

We had an amazing lecture by our AD, Dr. Keithly, who discussed her research in regards to antibiotic resistance in gram positive bacteria (Figure 4). After the lecture, we headed over to Chas, our lab building, to get some work done (Figure 3). Each group is busy developing their Cdc14 inhibitors on MOE (Molecular Operating Environment) and writing their research papers. At 11:45-ish, we took a quick break to build critters with hot glue guns and pipette tips courtesy of the academic staff (Figure 8,  Figure 9).

At around 12, we were dismissed from Chas and everyone headed off to lunch. There are many places that we can go, but my group decided to go to PMU, the Purdue Memorial Union, which has many small restaurants. I got my usual, a poke bowl, and everyone sat together chatting until it was time to go back to the pharmacy building for lecture (Figure 2).

After lunch, we were treated to a lecture by Dr. Avard, our AAD (her name is a palindrome btw!), who discussed her research in metastatic cancer. Then, we headed back to Chas to continue working on MOE and our papers. My group went into wet lab to rerun our dose-response assays (spoiler alert: the data wasn’t good ;-; ) (Figure 11).

At 5:30, we were dismissed and headed back to the dorms to change for formal dinner. Dinner was at Ford Dining Hall, where it normally is held on weekdays, and I enjoyed chatting with my fellow participants sitting at my table (Figure 12). After announcements, including the news of a Blind-Deaf-Mute challenge later in the evening, everyone walked back to the dorms together (Figure 6, Figure 7).

As most people went to get ice cream, I decided to take some time for myself and chill. The common areas in Honors South are great places to relax (Figure 5). The Blind-Deaf-Mute challenge afterward was extremely fun; it was interesting seeing everyone’s creations (Figure 11, Figure 12, Figure 13). Everyone hung out after the challenge until 11pm curfew, then it was good night!

Today was a really eventful day. Not a single day here goes by without me being grateful for my amazing cohort. Everyone here got so close so fast; it’s such a short period of time but we spend so much time together that it feels as if I’ve known everyone for ages. The friendships here feel unique somehow, and I can’t believe that I only have one more week with these amazing people. Thank you everyone for giving me the best summer memories ever!!

-Aimee

The post Day 29- Frogs Make The Best Hats (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.

Following, the lecture we had the pleasure of listening to the guest speaker, Dr. Milie Georgidas. Dr. Georgidas provided valuable insight on her research regarding synthetic DNA. Her whole idea of “alien DNA” was fascinating and eye-opening as it offered a glimpse into the advancing technology in genetic engineering.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the baseball game in the evening. The Lafayette Aviators have never seen a crowd as hype as Purdue 2. The game was filled with different cheers not only of the players and the team, but also a battle between Purdue 1 on who could cheer louder. We definitely came out on top and were the most hype group at that stadium. The dancing was also on par with the cheers. Eventually the game ended with the aviators winning 4-2. Although we left with most of our voices gone everyone had so much fun. 

The bus ride back was the perfect ending to our day. More fun happened as everyone was vibing to the music that our bus driver played. A special shoutout to our bus driver, Rick, who was on aux. Make sure to support his son who is #40 on the Purdue football team. 

Overall, the day was fun and will definitely be a long lasting memory. 

Signing out,

 -Elbert

The post Day 25- Jay Dills (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.

My roommate, Mingjia, and I woke up to a blaring 6:40 alarm, and blearily fell back asleep until 10 am. The previous week’s oscillation from science to adventures in Lafayette and back finally caught up with us so we begrudgingly enjoyed a peaceful morning. Breakfast was fortune cookies from last night’s Chinese barbecue place (my fortune was a no-brainer for any SSP participant, “There is a prospect of a thrilling time ahead”). Those few hours were peaceful, until Claviceps purpurea, the fungus my group is studying, came calling yet again.

“9 to 5” by Dolly Parton

Ok, well, it being Sunday I didn’t really manage an eight-hour workday, but I took a couple hours to finish writing up my portion of the methodology section of the final report. It was crazy to see how many techniques and procedures we’d learned these past four weeks, and to see hours of time in the wet lab coming together to make our beautiful academic baby.

“Le Festin (Theme from Ratatouille)” by Michael Giacchino

Our group’s plan for lunch was supposed to be a lovely Mediterranean place that did dining al fresco. I say “supposed to be” because as I entered our dorm’s lobby to head out thunder boomed with almost cinematic timing, and we realized going out wasn’t an option. My cohort is nothing if not ingenious (it’s how we ended up featured on the Lafayette Aviators baseball Instagram), and so some of us decided to cook, literally and metaphorically. Lillian boiled water in the basement microwave and made us Buldak ramen, Adi brought granola bars and chocolate covered almonds, and Mingjia and I contributed our intellect to combine them all. I don’t think Lillian will ever get around to appreciating our smashing Buldak sauce and chocolate covered almond combo, but not everyone can have a refined palate.

“Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John

After the rain cleared up we hit the town, where we shopped for matching rings at Von’s and I had to fight the urge to buy the shiny, shiny crystals for sale yet again. We also had a quick dinner at Garbanzo Mediterranean because there was no way I wasn’t getting hummus today. The most important stops, however, were the boba shop and Mango Mango Dessert, a cafe whose dishes were themed around the eponymous mango. I had a slice of mango crepe cake with the perfect crepe to filling ratio that melted in my mouth. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

“All The Small Things” by blink-182

This was just a small glimpse into the thousands of moments that make SSP such a unique experience. Honestly, there are so many more details I could delve into, like doing each other’s nails in the dorm lounge, downing packs of hazelnut creamer, and rehearsing for our talent show. It’s the minutiae of daily life with this group that has now become almost family and the joy of exploring science with them that make this program amazing.

“Good Riddance” by Green Day

(I swear the song doesn’t match the title at all if you listen it’s really moving and great.)

-Anna

The post Day 28- A Playlist for SSP (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.

In the lab, we analyzed our inhibitor screening data and concluded that it was terrible, so we optimized our procedure by basing our conditions on scientific literature. Then, we spent the next 3 and a half hours redoing our inhibitor screening and it was now time to analyze our data. It turned out to be complete and utter trash, and so much worse than our original data, which meant that we would have to redo it again sometime. But at least it was now time for lunch! And you know what they say—out of sight, out of mind.

So my friends and I went to Jersey Mike’s, only to find out that it was closed, along with every other restaurant on campus. So, we had no choice but to eat at the Ford dining hall. I got a pork cutlet along with onion rings and vegetable minestrone soup, which, surprisingly, wasn’t bad. They also had a fruit loops marshmallow thing for dessert, which also wasn’t bad.

Now it was time to go on a field trip!

First we went to Columbian Park Zoo, where we got to see some animals and pet some goats. 

Then we walked over to a waterpark 2 minutes away called Tropicanoe Cove. We went on the lazy river and a couple of waterslides, and played some beach volleyball in between. 

After the waterpark, we headed over to a Chinese/Korean restaurant called Rolling Bowl for dinner. The restaurant did not have any air conditioning whatsoever, so we were all getting cooked alive. The thermostat was set to 92 degrees Fahrenheit and the heat coming from the kitchen was not helping matters. The only worker in the restaurant was Hispanic and couldn’t speak English, which was kind of inconvenient. However, the food was pretty good. We all shared a bowl of kimchi fried rice, beef fried rice, beef noodles (which was terrible), pork belly skewers, and lamb skewers. 

Afterwards, we went to a dessert store across the street called Mango Mango, where I bought a creme brulee crepe cake, which was pretty good.

Then, we went on a target run to buy a crate of water, since Indiana water tastes meh. And finally, we hung out in the basement rec room until it was time to go to bed.

-Neilson

The post Day 27- PLEASE READ (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.

12:15 comes rolling by and we start loading the bus to head to a biotech company near campus
named “Inari”. Walking into the building, the project lead insisted for us to grab any
drinks/snacks in the kitchen area. I frantically rushed to be first in line to grab some sweet tea
and apple juice then I sat back down to listen to the introduction. Before heading out to tour the
molecular analysis lab, some students were attempting to recreate the viral “cup song” trend
that was popular many years ago.

I also caught an SSPer before the tour excited to explore the agricultural facility!

After the tour of Inari, we headed back to the dorms to chill before dinner and a lot of students chose to work on their ligand docking process in MOE. The past couple of days, participants have recently been obsessed with creating a horn-like animal noise with their hands. It spread like a wildfire, and it has been overdone to the point where the academic directors have started to become annoyed by it. Consequently, the animal noise was banned at dinner by the directors. Darn, I just got the hang of it as well…

Today was an eventful day at SSP. We are currently more than halfway through this program but it feels like I’ve known these people for an eternity. 2 more weeks to go, gotta stay strong.

– Yafet

The post Day 24- Whole Lotta Corn (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.

The first three weeks of SSP had a massive focus on wet lab. Every day, we were micropipetting, opening vials, centrifuging, calculating concentrations, diluting, and more. So these past few days, for many, have been boring—dry, you might even say.

Especially at first, it was annoying getting used to the intricate software that is MOE (Molecular Operating Environment). But once we got the hang of it, it was pretty cool to be able to visually see a self-created homologous model of our enzyme. We were fast at work by the time lunch came at 12:00 PM.

After lunch, it was back to work with MOE. Now, with our freshly made homology models, we had to run a docking procedure—simply put, we would test which molecules in which poses best fit our enzyme.

Sounds simple enough, but we were there for 4 hours before our procedure was finished!

Finally, we finished at 5:00 PM. After dinner from 6:00 to 7:00 PM, we only had a little bit of time to rest. I took a quick power nap before we went down to the “Hogwarts room” for one last lecture.

That was probably the longest lecture of my life, but it was finally done at 9:30 PM. Still wasn’t the end of the day, though—we spent the next hour finishing up assignment I before we turned in our computers at 10:45 PM.

Then, long story short, I crashed. I really needed my sleep.

But even though SSP has been tiring, it has been nothing short of amazingly fruitful for me. I hope it continues to be so!

-Ahmad

The post Day 23- MOE-tastic Tuesday (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.

At 8 AM, we began a lecture and class activity on building structural models using MOE, which went all the way until lunch. The whole concept of generating our own protein models was pretty cool, as we built the foundation required for developing our fungal inhibitor. 

After lunch, we got right back to work. We slowly progressed on our research papers, brainstorming ways that we could decipher our lab notebooks into functional procedures for the paper. Then, we had a class activity on reaction mechanisms, where we had to decipher the language of organic chemistry. 

For lectures after dinner, we met in the “Harry Potter Room,” displaying its gigantic screen. I’ll probably never see protein models in that size again.

We finally topped off the day with a quick late-night ramen sesh. 

Another fun day at SSP!

-Jimmy

The post Day 22- MOE Protein Analysis in West Lafayette (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.

Remarkably, these past 3 weeks have felt like simultaneously the longest and shortest weeks of my life. The longest, because I now feel like—cliche incoming—I’ve known my fellow SSPers and the Purdue campus since forever; the shortest, because once we settled into our steady routine of meals and lecture and lab and activities, the weeks flew by.

This week, my lab group braved the trials and tribulations of enzyme activity assays, designing our own protocols for the first time. We created procedures to characterize our target protein’s catalytic activity on generic and specific substrates—and as we would discover, designing the tests was the least frustrating part. Our group had to repeat the same test 3 separate times. To this day, acceptable data from the assay remains a fantasy, and Excel is actively trying to drive me crazy.

With all this in mind, it makes sense that on Sundays, I throw down the micropipettes and centrifuge tubes in favor of laundry and extended boundaries. To us, Sunday is the reset day. Instead of waking up at 7, I wake up at 9. Instead of spending a day in the lab, my cohort spends a day out, sampling “local cuisines”. Instead of eating at Ford, we eat at Cane’s. With, of course, an obligatory stop at Mango Mango for dessert.

In particular, today was also Parent Visit Day. A few SSPers had parents take them out, but the majority of us enjoyed a relaxed day out, starting from sleeping in. While the morning was uneventful, the afternoon was packed with activity.

Once extended boundaries started at 2, we grabbed boba at Tsaochaa (trying new flavors each time! I highly recommend the lychee jasmine milk tea) and headed to Target & Von’s to shop. Every week, I buy a new bag of mandarins from Target to supplement frozen dining hall fruit with fresh stuff. I try to share it throughout the week.

I spent dinner at Malatang (Chinese hotpot) with my incredible labmate Aimee and a friend from Purdue 1. May have loaded my bowl with a bit too much food, but I’d say at least I left dinner fulfilled. 5/5 stars. Some of our cohort chose to go to Taste of India instead, which apparently has some really nice food for cheap (but be prepared for spicy).

We concluded extended boundaries with Mango Mango for dessert. I ordered the mango pancakes, while others got ice cream and cake. Honestly, West Lafayette is doing wonders for my sweet tooth. It’s a blessing and a curse, because this may be the best dessert I’ve ever had, but I’m pretty sure I messed up my hunger cues.

The day ended with laundry. Someone in SSP Discord a while back—in a reference to Everything Everywhere All at Once—that this is the universe in which we do laundry together (not the taxes part). Kind of deep, if you ask me. Because since arriving, I’ve been immersed in science: between learning the principles of enzyme kinetics, practicing micropipetting daily, and troubleshooting pesky Excel sheets, my mind is practically swimming in biochemistry. But my time here has been characterized, too, by laundry and shared meals and time with friends I’m not ready to leave. By playing duets in the laundry room because the practice rooms were locked, by riding on terrifyingly rickety roller coasters, by dinner conversations about eating paper and Sprite-milk concoctions (our professors have some strong opinions on those topics).

We’re more than halfway through the program now. I plan to cherish the time we have left, but I’m not thinking about it too hard. For now, I’m eating my leftover mango pancakes in peace.

-Mingjia

The post Day 21- Sweet Sunday Ponderings (Biochemistry Purdue II) first appeared on SSP International.