When Roshni Vora conducts research, she needs half an onion, a pipette, and a donor to do the job.
As an intern at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, Vora, a second-year biochemistry student, spends several hours a week collecting tears from donors as part of research on dry eye disease.
Vora is one in a large population of students who engage in student research at UCLA, many of whom feel they must acquire research experience in order to be competitive for medical and graduate school.
There are approximately 5,500 funded research projects underway at any given time, involving some 4,000 faculty members, research staff and students, said Phil Hampton, a UCLA spokesman.
Over the years, an increasing number of undergraduate students have been trying to get into the lab of Navindra Seeram, assistant director for the Center for Human Nutrition at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, a trend he attributed to undergraduates’ increased interest in learning about different research areas, as well as a desire to be competitive for graduate or medical school.
But it is not always easy for undergraduates to gain hands-on research experience, as they are competing against qualified graduate students.
Finding research
As an undergraduate, Vora said she feels lucky to be doing lab research.
She is part of a larger research project to determine the cause of dry eye disease, which limits the eye’s ability to produce moisture. She collects tear samples from friends who volunteer to be donors and stores them for graduate student researchers to analyze.
Vora originally began researching at the Jules Stein Eye Institute to explore her interest in optometry, which she may pursue as a career in the future.
“(As part of the Student Research Program), a lot of labs don’t allow you to get a lot of hands-on work,” Vora said. “This is one of the labs that does ““ it’s still a minimal amount but it’s still a lot, considering we’re undergrads.”
The Student Research Program places undergraduate students in research labs with a faculty mentor and provides academic credit.
But some undergraduates find that getting hands-on research experience is difficult because they do not have the experience or knowledge base to be granted a large amount of responsibility.
Ali Baher, a graduate medical student who is researching cardiac arrhythmia, said undergraduates often are not as dedicated as they should be, which limits their ability to gain hands-on research experience.
Baher recounted that as an undergraduate student at UCLA conducting research, he had to prove he was committed and reliable in order to receive more responsibility. Now Baher said he expects the same from the undergraduates assisting him.
“I don’t give my undergrads anything I need on a deadline because they are flaky,” Baher said. “Undergrads need to change their attitude and prove themselves.”
Seeram attributed the difficulty undergraduate students may have finding research opportunities to the high cost of investing in their lack of experience.
He said many undergraduates lack experience and prior knowledge of lab work, causing researchers to invest a great deal of time and resources into instructing them.
“Many professors don’t have the time, energy, or enthusiasm,” Seeram said.
But Seeram said he views the undergraduate research experience as a valuable opportunity for students to learn in a hands-on setting.
“First and foremost, (UCLA is) an academic institution ““ education is not only in the classroom but also in the laboratory,” he said. “It’s mentoring, it’s a one-on-one experience with a student.”
And some professors say they have found the experience of working with undergraduates to be rewarding.
Seeram said he works with up to 10 undergraduate students at a time, helping them conduct individual research projects that analyze the health benefits of fruits and vegetables.
He said his experience working with undergraduates has been positive, as the majority of his student researchers are punctual, reliable, and disciplined.
Vora said the research experience is a catch-22, saying undergraduates cannot get a big break without experience and cannot get experience without a big break.
“Most undergrads don’t get a lot of time doing lab research. SRP will make a big deal that you’re doing research, but the truth is you’re just doing data analysis and clerical work,” Vora said.
Graduate school motivation
For many undergraduates who hope to attend graduate or medical school, gaining research experience is a necessary part of the competitive process.
Monica Aguilar, a third-year anthropology student, worked as an emergency medicine research associate at the UCLA Medical Center in summer of 2005. At the time, she had been planning to go to medical school, and found her experience helpful for making her application competitive.
“It was crucial and indispensable at that time (to join the research project), because to get into med school it’s very competitive. … The more exposure you have to the medical field the better,” Aguilar said.
Building a resume is a primary concern for many undergraduate student researchers, who feel the pressure of the cutthroat graduate school admissions process.
“It makes you more competitive, not only for graduate school, but also for medical school. These students are really functioning in a work-type environment,” Seeram said.
Lili Fobert, director of admissions at the School of Medicine, said due to the competitive nature of the medical school program, students may feel the need to enhance their applications as much as possible.
“Research is very important because that’s what (members of the admissions board) review in addition to (other qualifications),” Fobert said. “Any time there are 6,000 people applying for 120 spots, (students) are going to feel competitiveness.”
But increasing one’s competitiveness for graduate school isn’t the only motivation, as some just want to explore their interests in different areas of research.
Participating in research can be an intellectual challenge that allows undergraduates to explore areas of interest and determine whether or not they want to pursue that area in the future, Seeram said.
Vora chose to work at the Jules Stein Eye Institute because of her interest in pursuing optometry as a profession.
“I was interested in the eye, and I was considering optometry as a career. I wanted to see what it entails, and since (my principle investigator) is an ophthalmologist, I could learn a lot from him,” Vora said.
Desiree Tejada, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student, also joined a research project at the Jules Stein Eye Institute for similar reasons.
“I’ve been wearing glasses since the third grade, so I thought maybe I can see if I can research something that will help eyesight get better,” Tejada said. “I didn’t go there for a specific project, I just wanted to learn everything I could, and build a foundation so that in the future I can work on vision research.”
Ups and downs
While every student’s research experience is different, some undergraduates have found that along with the rewards of research there come certain costs as well.
Tejada said while her research experience at the Jules Stein Eye Institute has been rewarding, she knows of some undergraduate students who have had less than fulfilling experiences.
Tejada studies microvesicles as part of stem cell communication research to see whether the microvesicles can regenerate proteins that may help patients with protein deficiencies.
She said her adviser helps her to be actively engaged in her research.
“Some people get a list of things to do exactly and just have to do it, but (my adviser) helps me think critically about what this is about,” Tejada said.
But she said other undergraduates have told her they did not enjoy their research experiences.
“I’ve heard of a lot of other undergrads who can’t do work like I do,” Tejada said. “I’ve heard of a lot of people that hate their labs because they can’t stand the people they’re working with or are just doing busywork.”
Aguilar said that while her experience as an emergency medicine research associate was fulfilling, she didn’t feel that she was being used to her fullest potential.
Aguilar researched a correlation between fainting and severe diseases by collecting information from patients in the emergency room who had undergone fainting incidents.
“I knew the research being conducted was for some good,” Aguilar said. “But … the syncopal (fainting) episodes weren’t very common, so I didn’t really get to do as much as I would have liked.”
With reports from Shaudee Navid, Bruin reporter.