SFU undergraduate student in computing sciences and molecular biology and biochemisty, Jasleen Grewal, recently embarked for Boston; she was selected for a summer internship at Harvard University’s prestigious Stem Cell Institute.
Grewal edged out multiple other students from around the world who also applied for this position. Although the institute does not accept many international students — giving priority to American students — Grewal synched a spot.
In a phone interview with The Peak from her lab on Harvard’s campus, Grewal said, “I am soaking everything in, and it is quite an enriching experience to be working alongside such excellent peers.”
The position at Harvard will allow Grewal to pursue her core interest in stem cell research; this is an area of study with great promise as research has shown many potential uses for stem cells, including the generation of cells and tissues, and the treatment of heart and blood-based diseases, among others.
Grewal has research experience in the biological sciences, particularly concerning cancer growth, evolution, and cancer stem cells. According to Grewal, her lifelong passion for science began with her parents. She recounted, “My parents were teachers in mathematics and chemistry, and I think having a childhood where curiosity was constantly encouraged and satiated with mind-blowing explanations greatly contributed to my keen interest in science.”
She continued, “While in elementary school, I was learning about atoms and orbitals, and Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio, while penning my pet dog’s biography, and it was just a really enriching atmosphere to grow up in. I am really grateful to my parents, and [. . .] high school biology teachers.”
Growing up in a curiosity-driven environment provided the bedrock for scientific inquiry that led Grewalto become involved in research work as a young scholar. “I was briefly involved in research work at the Genome Sciences Centre, Vancouver, on an ongoing project in collaboration with the Terry Fox Research Institute, on the Glioblastoma Multiforme, an acute form of brain cancer,” Grewal said.
When Grewal came across the internship program at Harvard’s Stem Cell institute, she recognized that their summer internship program fit well with her prior research experience and realm of interests.
She explained, “It was such a perfect program: 10 weeks of research under leaders in stem cell research, at Harvard, of all places — I figured I’ll give the application a shot, though it seemed like a long one at that time.”
Grewal’s internship will be spent working with Winston Hide’s lab at the biostatistics department of the Harvard School of Public Health. The work will involve practical elements, such as testing and creating a “cellular pathway printing tool that integrates genomic data to provide a quantifiable measure of gene expression” — in other words, Grewal hopes to understand how interactions between cellular pathways influence different cell behavior in an organism.
Grewal gushed about the benefits of the program: “One [benefit] most definitely is the exposure to such diverse arenas of research, and to see how research occurs! I hope to keep an open mind and learn everything I can about the avant-garde research being pursued here in Boston [. . .] and in general to get a firmer direction for my future career and to experiment with it a bit too.”
