Hey everyone! I am currently studying new techniques in the Weibel Lab located in Madison, Wisconsin! After meeting Dr. Katie Brenner at the L’Oreal For Women in Science Ceremony enabled by Teen Vogue ( 1st blog post on scistrut!), I followed up with her via email to arrange a potential internship or research project in her lab at UW-Madison! Katie was recognized for her innovative work to detect neonatal infections early! A video of her work can be found here: L’Oreal For Women in Science Fellows. Katie’s research inspired me to explore biochemistry and encouraged me to major in biochemistry in the future. After months of email correspondence and extremely generous support from L’Oreal, we developed an outreach science workshop in Katie’s lab! So here is my Day 1/ Day 2 Recap:

DAY 1

Katie organized a meeting with Dr. Doug Weibel, the principal investigator of the Weibel Lab. Dr. Weibel was super friendly and shared his STEM background. Next, Jamese ( fellow teen scientist) and I were introduced to biofilms! A biofilm is any group of microorganisms where cells stick to each other on a surface! Biofilms are everywhere! This introduction and inoculation demo lead perfectly into our specimen collection, which was broadcasted on the L’Oreal USA Periscope! Our goal was to collect samples from different locations near water or actual water samples and visualize antibiotic resistance within these biofilms! Thank you to everyone who tuned into this special broadcast, we will be posting another livestream later this week!    

DAY 2

Day 2 consisted mainly of exciting chemical reactions. We synthesized aspirin and connected what I learned in AP Chemistry this year to reactions in the lab!  

Photo By UW Biochemistry 

After a delicious lunch, we headed over to a scientific glassblowing demonstration with Tracy. Tracy explained to us his role in the development of innovative research at UW-Madison. His ability to translate ideas into glass apparatuses for the lab is super cool!  

  After our day of science was complete, we enjoyed a theatre production of Pride and Prejudice!  

  
Photo: ( left to right) Autumn, Katie, Jamese 

 Outfit Details:

Dress- H&M

Mini Bucket Bag- Rebecca Minkoff

Shoes- Target ( not visible) 

THANK YOU SO MUCH L’OREAL FOR FUNDING  THIS AMAZING EXPERIENCE