This week was my seventh and final week at the Bernier Lab. This week we wrapped up the SCN2A visits with a couple more families. During these visits I watched more testing, and I was also able to observe an ADOS (autism diagnostic observation schedule) toddler module. A modified version of the ADOS, the Toddler module looks at similar things as a module one but in a way a toddler would respond to (ex: different toys). For the rest of the week we started to enter the SCN2A data, so I worked on requesting medical records and filing other records away. I also finished a literature review for the Principal Investigator, Raphe Bernier. The literature review was very interesting to me because I was able to read about a bunch of different topics including autism in adults, workplace problems, transition to adulthood, intimacy and sexuality, friendship and more. I was also able to sit in on a feedback call in which the clinician reviews testing scores and diagnoses with the family. The call was with a DYRK1A family that came to the lab at the beginning of my internship, so I was able to see it from start to finish!
This week I was able to participate in many activities outside the lab! On Monday, Elena and Jessie were driving through Seattle, so I was able to to see them after a couple of months! We went down to Pike Place market and then walked around downtown. On Tuesday there was a lab get together to celebrate the end of the summer and new beginnings! On Thursday I went out to a last dinner with my host family to a tapas lab in which I tried mussels for the first time. Friday morning at work there was a goodbye potluck to celebrate my summer at the lab.
I want to thank everyone who helped me through these 7 weeks at the lab. Thank you to my parents for supporting me in all of my endeavors. Thank you to my host family, Linda, Ruddy, and Bodie, for accepting me into your house and showing me around Seattle. Thank you to my mentors, Micah and Eva, and to all the Bernier Lab staff for taking me under your wing and teaching me about the different aspects of research. Finally thank you to Sarah Holbrooke and the Pinhead Institute for setting up my internship and giving me this once in a life time experience. Seattle I will be back!
With my mentor Eva
At the Lab get together!
With Elena and Jessie at the market
mussels!
fogy morning in Green Lake
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