Michael Guerrero
Biology, Junior
Going into college, I did not know much about the research opportunities available at DePaul University. It was not until classes started that I learned about these opportunities through professors; they would mention their research labs during lecture. This opened my eyes to the new opportunities available to me. One of the most difficult parts of the research process was finding professors with availability in their labs as there is limited space in each one. At first, I tried simply asking different professors, even if I had not had them in lecture before. During my freshman year, I only had one professor, Dr. Grice, for more than one quarter, and a friend and I decided to ask him if he had any availabilities in his lab. At first, I was not so sure about joining the lab simply because it was in the chemistry department and I am a biology major. I thought it would be too different from biology, but when I looked up the research online I saw it really was not all that different. Once I set up a meeting with Dr. Grice, I learned a lot more about his research, and I learned how his experiments related to my major of biology and interest in medicine.
I started working in Dr. Grice’s research lab in December of 2016 and have continued to work for him. I first started on a CO2 reduction project in an attempt to change CO2 into a different form that would have beneficial functions. After a few months, Dr. Grice had the other students and myself work on a collaborative project with Rosalind Franklin University Medical School. Our lab worked on characterization of a new compound that could have potential health benefits for those who have cirrhosis of the liver and other conditions. This was the first large scale project I had worked on that involved two different groups. It was an eye opening experience to see how the collaborative process between two fields at two different institutions functioned.
This collaboration was able to publish a paper in December of 2017. I was able to learn everything that goes into writing a paper involving a variety of people. There is a lot of back and forth with communication being the key to it all. Good communication between the collaborators was very important. If one person was not efficient, then it had the potential to set other people back. I was able to learn all of this while being lucky enough to be an author on a paper as an undergraduate student.
I also had the privilege of presenting my publication with my classmates at the 15th Annual Science & Mathematics Undergraduate Research Showcase in December of 2017. I really enjoyed this experience. We had to take what we had in the published paper and somehow decide what points were most important that needed to be included on the poster, which was a fun challenge. It was also the first time I had the opportunity to present information relating to chemistry, and that was a challenge on its own. My group had to determine a method that could be used to explain the experiments without using chemistry heavy terms so a greater number of audience members could better understand the experiments. It truly was a great experience to present and see a lot of my peers present the research they were working on. I find it amazing how many students at this school are involved in research labs.
Michael Guerrero (left) and two co-workers presenting their lab research at the 15th Annual Science and Mathematics Undergraduate Research Showcase in December of 2017
Working in a research lab has greatly increased my knowledge and understanding of this side of the chemistry industry and how it is of great importance to many related fields such as biology. It has also taught me a tremendous amount about being productive, efficient, and staying organized. One never knows when something they did could have a potential impact with the outcome, whether the outcome was desired or not, so I learned the importance of keeping good logs of my experiments to give out the information and recreate them if needed. It also helps to be very organized, as organization reduces the number of times an experiment needs to be repeated because the original data could not be found. Some resources used in the experiment can be easily acquired at a low price, and others can be expensive and very limited, so there is a great importance in managing the available resources properly.
I really enjoy working in Dr. Grice’s research lab, and it has taught me a lot through first-hand experience. I think doing this extra research alongside my organic chemistry lab greatly improved my chemistry knowledge. It really helped me better understand the techniques being applied during these labs, and I have a greater understanding in class. I have met a great group of people who create a great working environment that makes me want to continue doing research here. I look forward to continuing my research in this lab by taking CHE 397 for my Experiential Learning Requirement in the spring quarter of 2018.
Mike’s Research Paper: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/nj/c7nj03724d#!divAbstract