Statement Of Purpose Of A Co-Op Position As A Research Assistant

Introduction During the summer term, I held a Co-op position as a Research Assistant at Saint Mary’s University in the Chemistry Department. I was under the supervision of Kathy Singfield and Samuel Veres with the direct supervision by Brendan Grue.

Objectives Objectives that we set prior to the start of my work term included assisting in the development of chemical methods involved in crosslinking, assisting in the investigation of the role of various factors including chemical additives.
It was necessary to come up with a list of learning objectives a few weeks after starting my co-op position. I decided it would be beneficial to gain an understanding of Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), Thermogravimetric analysts (TGA) and …show more content…
I aided with the investigation of various crosslinking agents as well as prepared many bovine tissue samples using the mineralization process. I was able to attend the biomedical research day at Dalhousie and had the opportunity to learn about what other PhD students are researching as well as listen to two keynote speakers. It is difficult to go into great detail about the project I worked on, as the project is patent pending and I was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Lab duties included cutting our tissue samples into extremely thin films; after the films were prepared they either underwent crosslinking or mineralization. Films that underwent mineralization were crushed to obtain the mineral that was deposited and the mineral mixture sent to the Dalhousie Physics Department for SEM imaging. Films that underwent crosslinking were either dried to determine the dehydrated product material or a sample of the film was taken for DSC analysis. The DSC analysis was able to tell us the thermal denaturation of our sample, the more crosslinked the higher the denaturation temperature, use of the DSC was able to aid us in determining the proper crosslinking agent, concentration and crosslinking time. Crosslinked films were hydrolyzed and a ninhydrin assay was performed to determine the number of free animes, this was performed three times over the summer …show more content…
I spent almost two months of my co-op term reading about the project; toward the end I was getting tired of reading everyday, however, I learned the value of literature searches. After spending many days reading about the project, I was able to suggest potential experiments to perform as well as ways to modify our research. I spent my term working alongside a PhD student and due to the fact that he was just starting his project he too was doing a lot of reading. I gained an appreciation for literature and the experimental process. Minerals and bovine tissues were primarily dealt with. The DSC was used to determine the denaturation temperatures of tissues with various crosslinkers at varying concentrations. I worked in a lab, although much of my time was at a desk reading or interpreting data. I was not the only summer student in the lab, due to the fact that the lab we worked it was Dr. Singfield’s, Brendan, Dr. S Singfield’s summer student (Desmond) and an engineering student (Luke) that was hired to design technical equipment and myself shared the space. We all got along extremely well and were able to help each other throughout the summer, it was nice to have the opportunity to learn about the technical side of the project I was working on. On the first day Brendan went over lab safety and had Luke and myself preform WHMIS training as well as watch safety videos that pertained to our