Working in an on-campus lab is a no-brainer to most STEM students, and there are a few reasons why. The location is great, and typically, scheduling is super flexible. There’s usually a place for anyone looking to gain experience, as campuses have a wide variety of research going on at once. And though I’d never pictured this type of work for myself, I can happily say I work in a genetics lab focusing on mosquito research.
Working in a lab while being a student has been a great experience. I only work about 10 hours a week at the lab, and I’m able to change my schedule if needed for extra study time or exam weeks. My day-to-day activities are usually the same each week, but each lab looks different. I start my day by feeding the mosquitoes (at each stage in their life cycle). Adult mosquitoes stay on a sugar-water (sucrose) diet, unless they’re preparing to reproduce, in which case the females are bloodfed. The larvae/pupae exist in water until they’re able to develop wings, where they get ground-up fish food during development to adulthood.
Because the larvae exist in water, and adults would drown if kept in the same environment, we monitor their development stage closely. Once they pupate, they’re moved into a larger cage where they can hatch out into their adult form without suffocating. These tasks are usually done daily, and the entire process is known as “line maintenance”. Being a student worker in this lab can sometimes be repetitive, but each task is required to assist the researchers in completing their programs.
Though it’s a bit strange to explain, I enjoy the work! Because this is my second job, I try not to take it too seriously, and I focus on learning the concepts of the genetic modifications the researchers are working on. Though each researcher has their own focus, the primary focus in the lab is to understand mosquito biology and function, and how to limit their harmfulness to the general population.