Jan Plan in the Rice Lab
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Why spend your Jan Plan doing independent research? – Well, if you’re interested in research science, January is about the best time to be involved. During the semesters, research students must balance their laboratory efforts with classwork. However, during the January term, students can devote all of their time and energy to research - and earn up to 3 academic credits by spending 35-40 hours a week working in the laboratory. Students find that they get more done in a Jan Plan than they do during the rest of the academic year.
Independent research in a group setting – Every student in the Rice lab has her/his own independent project, but we’re all on the same team! With a range of experiences and backgrounds among our researchers, there is always someone to help and always someone who will be able to provide a fresh perspective. And of course, we hope that all will share the moment when someone makes that big breakthrough! Pictured here is one of our weekly group meetings where we share our progress and discuss new ideas. We also review published research from the literature and learn from the examples of research laboratories from across the world.
Rice Lab Student Profiles
Chris Lapointe, ‘09 – Chris has worked in the Rice lab since the fall of 2007 and is now spending his second Jan Plan doing research. This year however, Chris is engaged in an Honors Research project, which means that at the end of the academic year he will write a formal thesis on his work. Chris is also spending his January answering the phone as several of the top graduate programs to which he has applied are asking to interview him. Chris’s research involves using quantitative real-time PCR to measure how certain anticancer agents affect gene expression.
Alex Boches, ‘11 – Alex is also doing his first Jan Plan in the Rice Lab. A sophomore, half-way through Organic Chemistry classwork, Alex is trying his hand at synthesizing small molecules for study in the laboratory as anticancer agents. So far, he has only had 2 explosions (just kidding Alex!). Alex is trying to get as much work in as he can now, because in addition to his classwork this spring, he has lacrosse season coming soon too. Alex is from Massachusetts and is interested in either graduate school or medical school.
Bridget Reichelderfer, ‘10 – Bridget is doing her first Jan Plan in the Rice Lab. Bridget is from Wisconsin (Go Badgers!) and is working very hard to clone a gene for a human DNA repair enzyme so that it can be purified and studied. Bridget is a pre-medical student and her experiences this january will be very valuable to her as a candidate for medical school. While we can’t comment yet on her bedside manner, she wields a pipet with the best of ‘em!
