"That's What Makes Me Someone Who Could Be A Great Scientist"

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Uploaded by: LabTV
Uploaded at: 2015-03-27
Length: 07:40
Views: 229865
Likes: 95
Category: Science & Technology

Description

https://www.labtv.com/Home/Profile?researcherId=1305

Meet Samir Qurashi, a Research Associate in the Blelloch Lab at the University of California, San Francisco. Samir is studying Prostate Cancer and hopes to find a cure for it one day.

To learn more about Samir, visit https://www.labtv.com/Home/Profile?researcherId=1305

Transcript

"My name's Samir Qurashi and I'm a staff research associate here in Dr. Blelloch's Lab.
Video: Logo, UCSF, University of California San Fransisco, UCSF Blelloch Lab, Regenerative
Medicine Building.
Samir: Right now what we're mostly looking at in terms of of what I'm working on, because
as you know, there's a bunch of people working on a lot of different things, underneath the
umbrella that is the lab.
What I'm focusing on is prostate cancer.
I grew up in the Bay area, in the south Bay.
So here you step one foot outdoors and this is all around you, and because the weather's
pretty nice had the ability to explore deeper and for longer periods of time.
So anywhere from looking into tide pools to things like why banana slugs live where they
do.
We are always on track here in introducing science to kids that are really young, like
when I was really young and I got into it.
Video: T.J.
Hu, Staff Research Associate
T.J.: Hey everyone, I'm T.J.
I'm a Ph.D. candidate at the The Blelloch Lab.
Samir: Hi everyone.
My name's Samir and I'm a staff research associate in the Blelloch Lab.
T.J.: We're here to show you around.
Samir: Come on in.
So here is our gel bin.
This is the cross section of where everyone in the lab comes to in order to get a lot
of important stuff done.
This is where we visualize different things, like a wide array of experiments.
As you can see here, in between T.J.'s bench and my bench is where we get the collaborations
done.
Now this may look like nothing to you, but there's a lot of hard work put into the thinking
process.
Then on the benches themselves is where we get a lot of the hard work done.
This is where, eventually, we get to finally have that hooray moment.
As you can see, not only is it cool because we know exactly what we're trying to find,
but it's also cool because when you look at this picture, it looks like Christmas.
Cancer's a big, big, big umbrella term right?
There's so many different types of cancers.
One of the things that's misunderstood is that there so specific.
So prostate cancer's a very specific type of cancer.
Curiosity wise, I wasn't looking for one particular thing or other.
It's just you see the progress that people have made.
The scientists that have existed in this research realm, they've made progress and they've found
things.
They're on the precipice of finding new things and you get to read what they've published,
and what their ongoing progress is.
From there you can relate to it because it's the things that kept you superbly interested.
It's the thing that captured you.
When I came across the position that was here, I got a chance to start at that specific level
of, this is prostate cancer and these are the elements within the biological sphere
that cause it.
The causation is what they study here and I thought that was very interesting.
I thought that if I could somehow contribute, that it's a reciprocal process when you're
someone in my position, because you learn as much as you put into it.
So I figure this would be a good starting point to tackle the pathology behind how cancer
works.
Eventually, in time, hopefully, it will lead to us figuring out prevention, treatment,
of not just this cancer.
Hopefully it translates to the entire realm, which goes into other pathologies of other
diseases, and so on and so forth.
We'll see.
That's the interesting part about it.
We all have a common goal to answer the questions that you can't Google.
We're the ones that when you go home and you Google why the sky is blue, someone found
that answer somewhere like this.
That's pretty cool.
That's what excites us.
It's the questions that we want answered and it gets on a really micro-level.
You might think, man, am I ever going to understand what these people are talking about?
When you're working with people that are also inspired, and they get up.
They put their shoes on, they get it done, and they don't get frustrated because they've
been through it and they've learned from those experiences, then you learn not to be frustrated
too.
Everyone in the lab knows how to do everything and is fearless, so from dish washing all
the way to doing fancy experiments that you would read on a board.
You'd be like, what is that?
Everybody is part of this collaborative effort within the lab itself.
Then from lab to lab within the university, from university to university and so on and so forth.
By learning that, by teaching me that, by me ascertaining that, that's what makes me
someone who could one day be a great scientist, because I understand how, no matter what you're
station is within the lab or your role, we're all working together.
You know what I mean?
That's my favorite accomplishment.
That this is that kind of environment where everybody contributes.
No one's above or below doing a particular thing.
We see it all around us every day, people trying to tackle different diseases, and so
on and so forth.
I would also like to be a part of the education of the next scientists and because science
is science is always evolving, just like the evolution that we believe in, I want to teach
them to think, to trust their own instincts, just like everyone told me, to explore your
curiosities to tackle the questions that envelope you and enthrall you.
It's your future and it's your future.
You have to obtain what you want out of it, which means you have to put a whole lot into
it.
The earlier that you get on it the better.
That means you've got to find the environment, so volunteering in laboratory.
Just emailing, it sounds crazy, but emailing a college professor, because you like the
limited amount you understand about their research, will shock you how willing people
are to accept you into figuring it out.
It's really hard, but once you get the ball rolling, once you get over the obstacle of,
I don't think I can do this.
It just doesn't make any sense.
I can read a textbook, but I can't do this, or this, or this.
Whatever science you want to do, just try.
Just find an opportunity, think that you can, and you'll encounter some people that say
you can't, but you will.
That's just the truth.
You can put it off for as long as you want, but you will at some point.
If it's what you really like, you have to try it and the earlier you try it, the earlier
you'll figure it out.
You'll either have a really good experience, or you'll figure out it's not for you.
There is no shame in not being on board, but if you do find that it's something that you
want to do, you just saved yourself so much hair in the sink from pulling it out.
You know what I mean?
Just try it.
That's the only way you're ever going to get past the obstacle.
Do, you know what I mean?
Just do it."