It took me five years to graduate from college. A class that was required for my degree was not offered my senior year for a reason that I cannot recall. My fifth year was relatively light so I was able to do an internship at Eli Lilly & Co. I would spend three days a week doing the lab course at Indiana University in Bloomington and two days in Indianapolis.
The lab course involved using different growth media to select for specific bacteria from soil. The internship involved isolating a specific enzyme from a fungus. These projects were very different, but the thought process and strategies employed were remarkably similar. Understanding that vastly different projects can potentially benefit one another has been a valuable life lesson.
The final for the lab course involved developing an independent research project. There had been a slight spike in the cases of tuberculosis caused by Mycobacteria that year. Earlier in the semester we had tried to isolate Mycobacteria from soil using wax from candles. I got one potential positive. No one else in the class got anything. Basically, it didn't work. So I decided to try to make a different version.
I knew only three things about Mycobacteria. They can grow in 5% salt solution which is kind of high. They can tolerate a broad pH spectrum, and they can convert urea to ammonia. I couldn't figure out how to take advantage of these properties. I was going to grow the bacteria at different pH's, but their are millions of bacteria in the soil that do better at different pH. I didn't think that would work. I remember writing these things on the chalk board as I talked to a class mate when it hit me, my very first scientific insight. The urease would convert urea to ammonia which would raise the pH of the media. If I started the culture in high salt solution at low pH in the presence of urea, I could get the bacteria expressing urease to increase the pH naturally over a period of time. Only bacteria with high salt tolerance expressing urease that resisted large changes in pH would survive, i.e., Mycobacteria. It was so simple and yet somehow elegant, at least to me. I know. I'm a geek, but I was really excited.
Since I was traveling back and forth to Indy, I did not see the results until late at night. It didn't work. Only one type of bacterium grew, a relative of Mycobacteria. This new medium was able to selectively grow one type of bacterium from soil. Even though it failed, it was an astounding success. I had contributed something new. I love science. I was so happy. And then the janitor walked in. The sense of loneliness was almost overwhelming. I realized at that moment that no matter what successes or failures I experience, the most important thing to me was having someone to share these things with. With the understanding that vastly different projects can benefit one another, I also realized that other people sharing their successes and failures with me was just as important. While the result is important, the path is more so (and way more interesting). It doesn't really matter what the field is. Whether I am the teller or the listener, sharing makes things more real and easier to cope with.
Fast forward to Korea. The past three years of research have been the best in my career. The insights are coming at a frequency that surprises me. Like the example above, the results are rarely what I expect. They have been consistently better. We made one of the fastest fluorescent sensors of neuronal activity ever seen. We have made a biosensor that can manipulate and monitor the interior pH of a cell (http://www.nature.com/articles/srep23865). We are seeing things that no one has ever seen before (http://www.edaily.co.kr/news/NewsRead.edy?SCD=JE41&newsid=02345206609235752&DCD=A00504&OutLnkChk=Y). It is great fun and very exciting. Yet the experience in an undergraduate lab course late at night, long ago still applies. The results may be important (or not), but it is the people that really matter. I was very fortunate to have for a short period of time someone special to share those experiences with. I was very happy I got a chance to thank her in a small but highly significant way (at least to me). A life-long dream came true. I am grateful. Now, if you will excuse me, I really need to hear a good story. The janitor has arrived.
