I started this project full of enthusiasm and confidence. Even though I had some idea of the challenges of doing an undergraduate research project in six weeks, I wasn’t prepared for how taxing this project was. However, by the end of the experience I can honestly say that I’m really proud of the work that I did and I would jump at the opportunity to do something like this again. 

From the moment I walked into the lab there were challenges. From chilli oil proving to be extremely difficult to work with to making all the typical mistakes of an undergraduate student with very little research experience, I had plenty of obstacles to overcome. However, whenever I made a mistake the postgrads in the lab were always on hand to answer my (stupid) questions and give me a bit of encouragement. Even though I often felt disheartened I always tried to make the best of things. I often took time to reset my mindset so that I could focus on my research again. 

The real problems started when I got halfway through my research project and realised that I hadn't any results from my H. pylori experiments. I’d contaminated my first  experiment and then made some stupid mistakes like not turning on the incubator or forgetting to add in my gas pack . At the start I was a bit disheartened but reassured myself that I still had plenty of time. However, after three weeks of this I realised that time was running out. One of the post docs suggested that I look at klebsiella and pseudomonas in addition to H. pylori. These bacteria will grow everywhere and on anything so they proved to be a lot easier to culture than H. pylori. I was able to get a huge amount of data out of these. By the end of my research I had encountered even more problems with my H. pylori. Now instead of my plates being contaminated the bacteria simply weren't growing in them. I looked at every possible cause of why this was happening but couldn’t figure it out. In the end I wasn’t able to get any accurate readings from my H. pylori experiments so I ended up having to change the title of my research to focus on just klebsiella and pseudomonas. 

As you can see, my research could be quite chaotic at times.

There were times that I really doubted myself while doing my research. I kept running into obstacles and I was so unsure as to what direction my research should take. I felt really alone in this experience. It wasn’t until I talked to some of my peers that it became apparent that others felt the same way. Every other Laidlaw scholar doing lab based research was dealing with similar issues. From feeling inadequate to having to heavily rely on post grad students, my problems were the same as the problems of my peers. Talking to my peers made me realise that my problems weren’t unique and this really reassured me. I now felt that I could set more realistic expectations for my research without feeling like other students were surpassing my work. This realisation was a huge relief. 

So while the end result of my research project was pretty different from my goals at the start I still learned so much from my six weeks of research. I would jump at the opportunity to do something like this again. I’d encourage anyone considering trying out research to give it a go as I learned some invaluable life lessons over the past 6 weeks.