Research is a favorite activity, and many students do more than one project. Often these culminate in a presentation at a professional meeting, a publication, or an honors thesis. Students intern at medical facilities, in museums, at agencies and businesses. Suitable internships receive credit toward the biology major. Above, bands of actin protein glow like wheel spokes in one of Rony's fluorescently labeled cells.
Materials flow from the edge of cells to the center.
Here I'm adding a chemical to sea urchin cells to inhibit the function of actin protein, to find out how actin is involved in that flow. Being able to work in a research lab in the summer immerses you in science. Rony presented his research at a national conference and received graduation honors in Biology. For me, the high point was learning how to manage an animal under general anesthesia. The following summer I'll have a chance to work at Merck Research Labs.