A reflection on research by undergraduate John Sakakura

Being an undergraduate, I spend most of my time with my head stuck in a
book, studying. But being in that position limits my ability to learn
and understand what is really going on in the world of biology. Starting
my undergraduate research in the Casali lab in the Summer of 2009, I have
spent almost 2 years learning and performing the many assays that I learn
about while having my head stuck in a book. Being in an immunology
research lab, I have performed many assays including ELISAs, western
blots, qRT-PCR, and many others.

What I enjoy most about research is the opportunity to learn and work
closely with several faculty and graduate students, which doesn't occur
often in the lecture hall. This involvement creates strong friendships
even outside the lab with many celebrations of birthday's and
commencements.

So that is a little bit about my past research. Under the supervision of
Dr. Pone, who is a post-doctorate, and Dr. Casali, I am working on a
project that deals with the relationship between B cell receptor signaling
and Toll-like receptor activation. This project has been completed and our
paper has been submitted. Along with that, I have just recently finished
the Excellence in Research program here at UCI and found it to be very
fulfilling.

With all that being said, my research has been a very rewarding and fun
experience for me as an undergraduate.

Sincerely,
John Sakakura