Saturday, August 22, 2015

Summer Update: Jacob Beecher


Yes, we're well past summer already!  Our pre-season practices are going well and the guys are in high spirits.  We've installed a lot in a short period of time, but they've done a good job keeping up.  Maybe that's because our schemes are significantly easier to learn than the advanced genetic engineering and chemical research done by some of our students over the summer!

Jacob Beecher '16 spent the summer working for Integrated DNA Technologies:


Integrated DNA Technologies is bio-tech company that supplies both RNA and DNA to universities and other research organizations for use in many different genetic experiments. With offices in Iowa, California, Belgium, and Singapore, IDT is the largest producer of oligonucleotides in the United States and is becoming quite prominent in the worldwide research community. This summer, as a Chemistry Research and Development Intern, I was conducting organic synthesis research looking at fluorescence dyes that could be attached to DNA sequences. My main projects this summer were providing the full-time researchers with intermediate materials to further their own research and conducting a study revolving around the methodology of a single step of the synthetic process.  I have really enjoyed my summer doing lab work at IDT and have learned more about the research process through a completely different research setting than I had ever experienced.