During my final year of high school, I gave into “senioritis” a little bit too much. So much, in fact, that Iforgot to start my application to UT’s Freshman Research Initiative until three hours before the deadline. Not the smartest move, especially considering how nearly a month later, choosing a college became such a difficult decision to make that I ended up basing it on whether or not I got accepted into the FRI program. Needless to say, I ended up making the cut, and now I am entering my second year at UT (Hook ‘Em, Horns). Looking back, those tense few hours of anxiety while struggling to get my application in before the deadline have had one of the highest payoffs of any decision I’ve made in my education career. At first, I was very apprehensive about the size and scale of UT, and how this would affect my research experience. Seeing a five hundred person general chemistry class for the first time was quite the culture shock. It didn’t help that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing with regards to FRI. I had selected DIY Diagnostics as my top stream choice with the thought that “I’m a pre-med student, and ‘diagnostic’ seems like something medicine related, that could be pretty cool”. My first active week in the stream was a mess. All I had to do was complete a simple introductory assignment and do lab work for six hours. I didn’t know if I was doing anything as intended, and six hours in the lab per week seemed an impossible feat with all the other classwork that needed to be done. Luckily, it quickly became apparent that I was not alone in this situation, and both the mentors and Dr. Riedel were always ready to help out. A few weeks later, I finally found myself getting into a rhythm with the lab work and having fun along the way. Many, many mistakes were made, absolutely, but DIY Diagnostics taught me that mistakes are another part of the process; you just need to keep looking for the next step forward. I was learning useful skills, like how to accurately use a micropipette, and how to perform a LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification) reaction.
Most of the lab assignments built off each other, so I found myself applying previously acquired skills very often. Now, I am working on a diagnostic device to detect meningitis-causing bacteria in saliva, using LAMP as the primary tool. I also had a chance to get a head start on this project during the summer, which turned out to be an absolutely worthwhile experience. All in all, choosing this stream was one of the best decisions I’ve made in a while. For anyone looking for a comfortable, productive, and very beginner-friendly undergraduate research
experience, look no further than DIY Diagnostics.