Name: Catarina Bittencourt
Major: Genetics
Year: Senior
Hometown/State/Country: Aracaju, Brazil
Company/Organization: Recombinetics
Title: R&D intern
Location: Eagan, MN
Describe your internship responsibilities:
During my internship, I worked on a project that involved optimizing a new gene-editing technique called Prime Editing. I started by diving into research, reading everything I could about the method from published papers. After that, I moved on to designing pegRNA molecules and spent a lot of time in the lab doing molecular biology work like cloning, PCR, DNA extraction, and restriction digestions. Once the molecules were ready, I tested how well they worked in vitro and did plenty of cell culture work. By the end of the internship, it was exciting to see under the microscope that the molecule we designed was working as a gene-editing tool.
What did you enjoy most about this internship?
Since it was a small biotech company, we had a lot of opportunities to interact directly with our supervisors and openly share our thoughts and ideas. The people were super friendly and always willing to help. Our supervisor gave us a lot of trust, allowing us to learn from our mistakes, which made the active learning process my favorite part of the experience.
How has this experience impacted your future career plans?
This experience solidified my decision to stay in the academic environment—I’m now certain that I want to pursue a PhD and go to grad school after graduation. It also opened new opportunities for me, as I became really interested in the gene-editing field, and I’ll definitely be looking for graduate programs related to that. Plus, I made a lot of valuable connections, which will be helpful for my professional development going forward.
What resources did you utilize to obtain this internship?
I made sure to attend the career fair every year and regularly used CyHire to apply for internships. However, LinkedIn played a key role in landing this specific opportunity. I applied for the position through LinkedIn, and they reached out to me to schedule an interview.
What advice would you offer to other students seeking similar internships?
My advice would be —don’t give up! If you have a dream, fight for it. I used all the resources available, including the tools Iowa State provided. I reached out to a lot of professors for help, advice, and recommendations. Make finding an internship a priority and dedicate time to it—even though it can be tedious to sit and spend hours applying to different positions, I promise it’s worth it. Also, focus on building your resume and learning as much as you can. Iowa State offers plenty of activities, organizations, and resources that can help you gain experience. And don’t hesitate to ask for help when you need it!
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