Who I am: I am Christian K. Smit. I am currently a junior at George Stevens Academy in Blue hill. I am interning at the Connell lab because I was given an opportunity to study an interesting topic on genetic mutation and red tide.

What I want to do: I want to learn what the science field is like, as well as see if it completely fits my interest. I want to also learn about what a lab consists of on a day to day basis and see if I actually understand and enjoy the process.

What I learned: During my visit to Connell Laboratory I learned: basic lab safety, how to extract hemolymph from clams, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Pipetting techniques, proper techniques in a hood, electrophoresis, how to prepare a gel box for electrophoresis, the use of a cell counting chamber, Creating growth rate charts on yeast, Culture streaking with yeast, inoculating culture into (YPD) broth, Obstacle density sampling, Dilution calculations, how to perform basic lab math, and how to write a blog.