How to Kick-Start Your Undergrad Research Career & Build Your Passions Outside of the Lab

Message from Sachi

Happy October!

While everyone (in Canada at least) is preparing for reading week, I am preparing to start school right now… we start in October!

Thank you all for the love on Invite Health’s triple milestones. For the third year of Invite Health, let’s get the ball rolling with some of the goals.

Application season is here- if you’re looking for opportunities, check out the end of this newsletter. If you’re applying to grad school, use my applying to grad schools Notion guide.

This week, I invited Suky to share her story. Suky shares her story from the labs of the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases & Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) to the baking kitchens of George Brown. Now, she shares all of her advice for students wanting to pursue a similar path.

Today, you’ll learn from Suky:

• How she started her clinical research journey, and what it’s like to be a clinical + wet lab research student

• Actionable advice for how to land your first lab position, including building connections and standing out for lab positions

• How baking has made Suky a better scientist - with a spotlight on her Baking Arts experience with George Brown College

Enjoy today’s read,

Sachi 💌 

How to Kick-Start Your Undergrad Research Career & Build Your Passions Outside of the Lab

First off, tell us about your journey so far. Where do you study, what inspired you to pursue this, and what’s next? What else do you like to do outside of studying?

My name is Suky (she/her), and I am currently going into my fourth year of the five-year Biochemistry Co-op program at McMaster University! 

It was the summer of grade 11 that I decided to take an accounting course in summer school, with the original intention of pursuing business or finance in university. However, by the end of that class, I realized I didn’t like it as much as I’d imagined, so I pivoted to pursue science instead. It was a really scary step and I ended up having to take grade 11 physics along with all of my grade 12 science classes, but I couldn’t be happier that I made the change. I have always been fascinated by the natural sciences, with a special interest in human biology, medical sciences, and health & disease. I looked into a lot of different schools across Canada and what programs they offered, but ended up choosing McMaster because they are very well known for their scientific research and supportive school community (I can now say that both of these are very true).  

So far, I have learned so much in the biochem program and I continue to learn new things everyday! Before coming into university, I was still unsure whether science and research is for me; but now, I have a much clearer vision on where I want to go and I aspire to continue pursuing a career in this field. 

Outside of school, I am involved in a lot of extracurriculars and hobbies that keep me happy and help me recharge. Science can be really demanding and sometimes overwhelming, so I engage with a lot of creative endeavors like reading, creative writing, baking, painting, and playing the flute/piano to de-stress. 

Tell us about some of your lab experiences at UHN and OICR! Tell us what the experience was like, how you landed your positions, timeline, if the position was paid/unpaid, and any highlights you had! 

I have taken quite a winding path to get to where I am now, but it is so interesting to look back and see how one thing led to another, and how all of these pieces fit together in the end. 

If I think about it, everything really started because I took piano lessons. I had dreamed and dreamed of learning piano, and when I finally started to take lessons, I was really committed to practicing. Soon after, I was doing a lot of performances in my local community and that is where I caught the attention of an instructor at UofT, who was also very involved in community service. After one of my performances, she invited me to perform at her photography exhibition (I was just entering high school at the time). It wasn’t until I finished my second year of university that I contacted her again, since I was asking around to look for potential research opportunities. From there, she recommended me to a technician working at the Tanz Center for Research in Neurodegenerative Disease (part of the Krembil Research Institute next to Toronto Western Hospital, which is a part of University Health Network). It was the technician who then introduced me to Dr. Carmela Tartaglia, the clinician scientist whom I worked with. 

I was at Tanz for a total of eight months from May-December of 2023. I first started volunteering there as a clinical research student (non-paid position) over the four months of summer after my second year of university. After that, Dr. Tartaglia hired me back in the fall, so I continued working there part-time as a research clerk (paid position) for another four months until the end of December. During my time there, I mainly assisted doctors and nurses in collecting blood and CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) from patients with various neurodegenerative disorders, which I then took back to the lab for processing. My supervisor and I would then take these patients samples to analyze via ELISAs to detect various proteins, which we call biomarkers. The main goal of this was to determine whether these biomarkers would give us a clue on the patients’ stage of disease (i.e. increasing or decreasing concentrations of proteins as the disease progresses), and figure out whether we could characterize them as a therapeutic target for early diagnostic detection. 

Tanz, Krembil, and Toronto Western Hospital are most well known for their research on the brain, the nervous system, vision & retinal diseases, neurodevelopmental/neurodegenerative disorders, and movement disorders. So I learned quite a lot about the pathological characteristics behind a variety of neurological diseases, including: Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, FTLD (frontotemporal lobar degeneration), CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or concussions), NPH (normal pressure hydrocephalus), prion diseases, lewy body dementia, and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). 

There were countless memorable moments during my time there, given that I was just SO incredibly new to everything. It was my very first time working in a hospital, and I remember waking up at 5 a.m. to see a patient at 8 a.m. for their LP (lumbar puncture). I remember seeing the doctor pull out one of the longest needles I had ever seen in my life, and then immediately feeling so queasy I had to go sit down or I was going to black out (clearly, it was because I didn’t have breakfast yet, not because of the needle). Oftentimes after collecting blood from my patients, I would have to carry my samples through the basement of the hospital (because they are considered biohazardous material) to get back to the lab. I’d often complain about it being a horror movie-esque moment because the basement was dark and dimly lit, it was eerily quiet, and I had to half-run past the morgue wondering if there was a somebody in the big boxes that I passed by. And once I was in the lab, I always had to be extremely careful and on high alert at all times because I was handling human samples (which can carry a variety of different pathogens and contagions like HIV and HBV).

Admittedly, all of this felt very much like a roller-coaster ride in the beginning, but I also learned tremendously more than I ever could have imagined. Besides the clinical and lab work I did, I also learned how to organize clinical data into RedCap (a clinical information database), and how to use R (programming language) for data analysis. However, I would say that the BEST part of this experience was getting to interact with the patients and their families. It was an immense privilege to have the chance to listen to their stories and learn about their lived experience with neurodegenerative disease. As many of my patients were there to donate blood and CSF for our research program, I grew to greatly respect their contributions even more, and they opened my eyes to the importance of clinical research. 

I landed my current position as a research student at OICR (paid position) through my university’s Biochemistry Co-op Program! At McMaster, a number of programs across different faculties offer the opportunity to participate in co-op. Usually, this means it will take longer to complete your degree, but that’s because you are setting aside extra time specifically for experiential, hands-on learning in addition to your usual required coursework. You apply for the biochem co-op program in the winter term of second year, and if you are accepted into co-op, you would alternate between 8 months each of study and work terms for the remainder of your degree (check out the biochem co-op work/study term sequence here). 

At the time, I knew I wanted more experience in biomedical research, but I wasn’t really sure where to start. Co-op was an appealing option because of the program’s flexibility — I wasn’t confined to finding a placement within McMaster, so I could apply to anywhere I wanted. The possibilities were limitless, and I was excited to see what was out there. 

However, eight months of full time work sounded like a HUGE commitment … and I was stressed about everything from resume writing to job search & applications, interview prep, and dealing with the uncertainty of whether I’ll even find a good placement. The good news though, is that McMaster’s SCCE (faculty of science co-op office) was there to help with everything I just mentioned above. Students not only have access to one-on-one mentoring and career counseling, they also have access to a co-op specific job board with tons of job postings and resources. 

So I applied for a position at OICR on a Thursday evening. Admittedly, I had never even heard of OICR before this — I wanted to explore cancer research, and the only place I knew was the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (funny enough, they’re actually right next to each other). On the following Monday, I received an invitation for an interview, and a week later I was offered the job. I have been working full time at OICR since the beginning of January 2024, and I can sincerely say, from the bottom of my heart, that I have enjoyed every minute I’ve spent here for the past seven months. 

During my time here, I am in the lab day in and day out — so to many people, it looks like I run Western blots for a living but I promise it’s a lot cooler than that! I work very closely with a team of researchers and scientists to design and run a variety of experiments. Our research is in the field of immuno-oncology, specifically focusing on the role of endogenous retroviral elements (EREs) in cancer initiation and progression. EREs are genetic elements that aren’t normally expressed in healthy people but are reactivated in many different kinds of cancers, so we study their behaviour and characteristics in the hope of developing them into a potential therapeutic target.  

Besides the usual lab work though, I’m keeping busy with tons of different professional development activities too. OICR regularly hosts a wide variety of seminars and presentations that bring in top-tier cancer experts and researchers, along with frequent workshops and hands-on training for lab equipment. Back in March, I attended and presented at the 2024 OICR Translational Research Conference. I got to learn about the most recent advances in cancer research from the scientists, but it was also eye-opening to hear from our patient partners about real-life cancer stories and understand the tremendous impact of cancer research. OICR’s commercialization partner, FACIT, hosted the annual Falcons’ Fortunes Pitch Competition in April, and I had an absolute blast learning about how commercialization brings research and scientific innovations to patients in need. 

I am now starting to wrap up my first 8-month co-op work term and will be returning to school in the fall, but I am continuing to work part-time at OICR as a research student. Coincidentally, I also met my thesis supervisor, Dr. Sheila Singh, at OICR and will be starting my 4th year honours thesis project in her lab this coming September. 

In summary, I’ve learned a lot from all the different things I did at Tanz and OICR, but I think the highlight of any great research experience will always be the people. As I immerse myself into the depths and intricacies of science, I’ve discovered that I am surrounded by incredible colleagues and mentors alike. Especially when we spend THAT much time working together in the lab, we laugh together, cry together, complain together, and share some of the best (and funniest/most embarrassing) moments together too. It was in this togetherness that I got to build some of the most nourishing, enlightening, meaningful, and inspiring connections I’ve ever made. 

What advice do you have for students (especially high school + undergrads) who want to get their first lab position, especially if they don’t have any experience yet? 

The scariest and most intimidating thing in my early undergrad years was trying to make connections. And especially in science, you know that you need to try and get involved with research as early as possible. I still remember it like yesterday — that shroud of doubt and uncertainty that looms over you like a big, dark thundercloud. You have no idea where to start, you don’t know who to email, everyone seems so smart and you feel infinitely small. 

Well, I was once there too. The best advice I got for whenever I felt lost and helpless was this concept of collecting “building blocks”. Think about it like solving a big jigsaw puzzle, except you actually have to go out and collect all the puzzle pieces first. When you are just starting, you need to keep an open mind with the different opportunities that present themselves — don’t confine yourself to specific ideas or only do things that are related to your degree/where you want to go. Just start. It could be anything, really — go where your heart leads you. The more you go out and try new things, the more puzzle pieces and ‘building blocks’ you collect, and the big picture will become more clear as you go. Trust me, it’s often in the wildest and craziest ways that you’ll eventually end up where you originally intended to be. Take me as an example — if someone were to ask me what kick-started my career, I’d look them dead in the eye and tell them it was piano lessons. 

Of course, there’s the irony of wanting to apply to a lab for experience, but then you kinda-hafta also need prior experience to apply; so it’s like you’re trapped in this incessant, never-ending loop. However, while it is nice to have prior experience, just remember that everybody needs to start somewhere. Most professors and/or principal research investigators aren’t looking for someone who already knows everything. They want someone who is passionate about the research they do, is curious, willing to learn, and is resilient and perseverant enough to problem solve and confront different challenges.

If you start with the right mindset, it’ll help a lot, but it’s just the beginning — there is no “easy” way out. It takes a lot of effort, and you need to put in the initiative and hard work to get there. Here are some more actionable items to maximize your chances of landing a lab position: 

• Start with a simple search. What is it that you’re interested in? Who are the people that are researching these topics? Make a list, and go from there.  

• When sending cold emails, always approach with an attitude of curiosity. What exactly is it about this professor/PI/researcher that intrigues you? How does their work align with your research interests and goals? 

• Always keep in mind the “why you?” question — yes, you’re super passionate and awesome and ready to learn, but what exactly do you bring to the table? What are some skills you have that will contribute to the team if they decide to hire you?  

• My hot take of the day is that cold emails are the bare minimum. Hate to tell you this, but it’s true — you could craft the most wonderful emails and send out hundreds of them, and it still won’t guarantee a reply. Emails will get lost or buried very easily, but don’t let that discourage you from sending them. A really good addition though, is meeting people in person. Coffee chats, office hours, research fairs, networking events, you name it — take advantage of any possible opportunity you can get to talk face to face. Once you make your first impression, it will significantly increase the likelihood that you can further the discussion of potentially joining someone’s lab. 

And lastly, while you’re at it, don’t forget to surround yourself with people who have an unwavering belief in your abilities and potential. People who encourage you, who inspire you, and most importantly, people who celebrate you, no matter where you are and what you’re doing.

Can you tell us about your experience at the Baking Arts Program at George Brown? What inspired you to pursue this, how did you come across it, and what was the day-to-day like? 

I wrote this LinkedIn article about how baking makes me a better scientist and how it intimately inspires my research work, but admittedly… I went to baking school simply just because I LOVE baking!! I started back in middle school, loooooong before it became THE thing that everyone was doing during the pandemic. 

I first heard of George Brown College when I was downtown with my family, and I learned that they had a very well-known training program in food & hospitality (which includes culinary arts and baking). During the summer of second year, I was looking for something fun to do on the weekends and came across their Baking Arts Program, which is one of the many continuing education programs that they offer. 

There is no application process (and no direct requirements at all, really) for you to register in a class, so it's very accessible. The program itself is also very flexible, there’s a variety of courses you can take according to your own interests, and they offer class times during weekdays and weekends, with both in-person/on-campus and online options too. The cool thing is you could also earn an optional certificate as long as you take all the required courses (listed on the website), but there is no set timeline for that and you’re allowed to take courses whenever you want. The only “prerequisite” is that you have to take the introductory course (Baking Arts) before you’re allowed to take any of the other classes. So, it’s pretty straightforward — you just register, pay the tuition fee (the first course is a bit more expensive than the others because it includes the cost of your uniform), and off to class you go! 

So far, I’ve taken two classes — the most recent one I finished was the ten-week Breads course that ran from February to April this year. I took both classes at the St. James campus, which is just about a ten-minute walk up from Toronto’s King station. You will need to bring your own tools, but your instructor will tell you what you need and where to get them. You will also be given a manual of the recipes you’ll be learning, and all ingredients are provided in class as well.

Initially, I was a bit worried about how intense the class was going to be, but I found that it was actually pretty chill. Like, REALLY chill. And so much fun! While I would say that it is beneficial to have some prior experience, you are just expected to participate, so even if you royally mess something up it’s basically impossible to fail the course as long as you show up. The chefs were all extremely experienced professionals in what they do, and were all incredible instructors too. Class usually starts with getting set up and scaling/prepping your ingredients, followed by a demo from the chef, and then you set out to work in teams of two to make all kinds of yummy stuff! I’ve made everything from muffins to cookies to apple pie and cream puffs, biscuits and bread to fruit tarts and even a traditional 3-tier, 9-inch German black forest cake with super-fancy candied cherries imported from Sicily. 

Overall, it was a really unique and immensely rewarding experience. The classes have tremendously elevated my baking skills, but the best part of it all was going home every week with gigantic boxes of baked goods that I get to share with friends and family. 

What types of experiential learning opportunities did you have in undergrad that you think were the most pivotal in getting you to where you are today?

I was involved with a vast array of different extracurriculars throughout undergrad, but I will highlight two important ones during second year that were pivotal in helping me get to where I am now: 

During class, one of my lab mates told me about the IgNITE Medical Case Competition, which is an international science competition for high school and undergrad students. Every year, there is a different research theme, and students would compete in teams of four to come up with a creative proposal that addresses the research question. On a whim, I entered the competition (the 2023 theme was CardioRespiratory medicine) with several of my friends and worked on our proposal, titled “Exosome-based delivery of Pip4k2c mod-RNA to prevent Cardiac Fibrosis”. We were able to make it into the top 40 teams in the first round, so we presented our proposal at the igNITE conference and later got our project abstract published in the URNCST journal. 

Several months later when I was applying for co-op placements, this project on engineered exosomes caught the eye of my current boss, since his lab does extensive work on exosomes and extracellular vesicles too. Looking back, joining igNITE was almost completely just a last-minute decision made on a single whirl of spontaneity, but it’s pretty crazy to think that it actually ended up being the exact thing that got me my job. 

Before starting co-op, I landed my first ever research position as a project student in the Aquatic Behavioural Ecology Lab (ABEL) at McMaster, under the supervision of Dr. Sigal Balshine. I sent her a cold email asking about potential research positions, and after several rounds of evaluations and interviews, I joined her lab to work on quantifying different species of zooplankton in water samples collected from Hamilton Harbour. This was an unpaid position, since it was part of a research course that I took for credits. Despite that behavioural ecology is quite different from biomedical science and that I was only the second ever biochem student in the entire history of ABEL, I learned a lot about conducting independent research and it helped me strengthen numerous soft skills that would be transferable to later lab positions. 

The most whimsical part is that I was chosen for this opportunity because I asked for a microscope as a present for my 18th birthday. No reason, I just really wanted one. It was a beautiful trinocular light microscope with a mechanical stage — much fancier than the ones we used in highschool — and I used it to look at river and pond water samples which I had gone out to collect during the summer before I joined ABEL. This side hobby eventually became the reason I got hired, and turned out to be the exact thing that I would be doing when I later joined the lab (except, my water samples were arguably a bit more interesting to look at since they were living specimens).  

Where can students go if they want to learn more about your experiences?

I strongly recommend you to reach out to me on LinkedIn! 

I am always happy to chat, I received a lot of help from my seniors along the way and I’ve always appreciated our discussions. Sometimes, it really helps to hear from another person to learn about how they navigated through different challenges, and we learn a lot in the process too. Simply send me a quick message and I’ll give in my two cents whenever I can :) 

I also write a lot about my experiences and share them on my LinkedIn page, hopefully it would help someone who happens to come across to read it and need some inspiration.

Is there any final advice or resources that you would like to share with Invite Health readers?

If you’ve read this far, I really hope that you have found something enlightening to take away with you. I know it will often feel like you need to have it all figured out, but the truth is — no one does! I am still finding my way, and my path has been FAR from linear. I’ve taken a dizzying amount of twists and turns, but I don’t regret a single one of them because they were all necessary to get me where I needed to be.  

It’s easy to get lost in this seemingly endless rat race because there are so many things you want to do and you feel like you are constantly behind. But you shouldn’t compare yourself to others — everyone walks a different path and everyone will be exposed to different things, people, and opportunities. Learn to take authority in the choices that you make. There is no right or wrong way to go, and being inexperienced in something doesn’t mean that you are incompetent or incapable. Despite it sounding corny, trust the process! The future is scary, and things take time, but just know that you won’t be in it alone. Give yourself the time and grace to try new things, to learn, and to grow. 

And lastly, I plead you to follow your heart. Follow your passions and ambitions, because they will take you much, much further than doing things that you think you’re “supposed” to do (that’s a dangerously limiting mindset!!!). At the end of the day, your greatest achievement won’t be landing that job or getting that grade — it will be that you’ve respected what it is you really want, and that you’re happy. Sometimes, we tend to rely solely on our brains to make important decisions (like choosing the next step in our academic or professional careers), but I think it’s really important to let your heart guide you in that process too. 

Dream big, take it one step at a time, and you’ll get there eventually! And from my 15-year-old self, “have the courage to walk through the darkness, and have the hope that there will be light.”  

Quote from my book, “The Stars That Don’t Shine”.

Jobs, Opportunities & Resources 💻️ 

Most of these resources are reposted on Invite Health’s LinkedIn page.

• LOVE 2024 - The X Summit - An (Un)Learning Summit for Truth & Reconciliation

• Together Against Misinformation (TAM) Conference Interest Form

• International Research Internships

• Apply | Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at McGill University - McGill University

• Toronto Bioinformatics Hackathon | LinkedIn

• Google’s Student Programs

• Explore Microsoft Program | Microsoft Careers 

• Internships and entry level jobs | Intel Careers

• WHO 2025 Fellowships

• Federal Student Work Experience Program - Canada.ca 

• Research Data Analyst at MAP Upstream Lab (inforcloudsuite.com)

• CIBC Internships & Co-ops

• PhD students | Crick 

• Caribbean African Regenerative Medicine - Bridging The Gap In Regenerative Medicine For African Caribbean And Black Populations (carmnetwork.ca) 

• Home | Sedlab (uoftsedlab.com) 

• Fellowship — TIME Initiative 

• Student/new graduate opportunities (deloitte.ca)

• Job Opportunities — CHILD-BRIGHT Network 

• Student Programs | EDC 

• Student Training Program - ODPRN 

• 2024 NHP Summer Research and Training Program | Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations (utoronto.ca) 

About Invite Health 💌 

I started Invite Health for my younger self who was trying to figure out what to do with my health sci degree that wasn’t a career in medicine.

Today, I’d say this quote is the primary reason I continue to build Invite Health:

The mission of Invite Health is to close this talent-opportunity gap for students in the life and health sciences.

Since 2022, we’re the leading resource for students figuring out what to do with a life sci / health sci degree. I interview students pursuing diverse careers in healthcare, and how they got there - no gatekeeping here. Every newsletter is rich with resources and insights.

Our main channel is this newsletter, and I occasionally share resources on social media (LinkedIn and Instagram).

You can read more about why I built Invite Health here

How to get the most out of Invite Health 🫶

1. Connect with the interviewees: At the end of every newsletter, the interviewees leave their contact information for you to contact them. In your message, mention that you learned about their journey through Invite Health, and that you’re curious to learn more!

2. Share the word: Share Invite Health with your friends and networks. Start a conversation about something you learned- an opportunity, a piece of advice, or a recommendation that an interviewee made.

3. Bet on yourself: Apply to the opportunities that are shared in the newsletters. You have nothing to lose, and so much to gain. Circling back to point #1 - always reach out to the interviewees if you want advice!

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Free Links & Resources 🫰 

• Applying to Grad Schools Notion Guide by Sachi

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