Ruisi (Teresa) Qin
Research Technician, Wang Lab
What is your current role in the biology department?
I am currently a technician in the Wang Lab. Our studies focus on the organelle degradation pathway and organelle morphological changes in response to the cellular homeostasis disturbance. Most of our experiments are based on fission yeast cells S. pombe and mammalian cell culture.
What was it that originally sparked your interest in biology?
At the beginning, I just realized that I was much more interested in science than literature.（I don’t mean that I am not interested in literature at all, but I get tired much faster when thinking about literature, especially philosophy.) When I first chose biology as my undergraduate major, I didn't know where this path would lead me. Even though I was already interested in diseases, I was still not sure which specific area could get me to where I wanted. What really aroused my interest in cell biology was a class I took on stem cell therapy. When I learned that there are so many people working on using stem cells to treat major diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's, etc., I realized that what I am willing to continue to study and research must be cell biology. Only when we understand the mechanisms of cells can we better solve the problem of disease treatment. I’m glad that I can have a chance to dig deeper in this field.
What do you enjoy most about working here at the U of R?
Definitely the environment and the people. U of R has a very cohesive and collaborative working environment. Dr. Wang is a new professor in the Department, we are waiting for the new lab to be renovated. Many professors generously lend their lab space, equipment, and materials to us, and help us with some new experiments. Their help has greatly alleviated our anxiety and helped us save a lot of time. I really appreciate their patience and generosity.
What’s the most important thing that you’ve learned working here and/or studying biology?
One important thing I learned during my time working here is always be patient. Sometimes I want to finish the experiment quickly or get the results sooner, so I will arrange a lot of experiments for myself in a short period of time. Then I will find that because of my impatience, the experimental results are not good and not conclusive. Scientific research itself is a long process. If the quality of the experiment cannot be guaranteed, a large number of experiments or speeding up the experiments is meaningless. So now, even if I’m anxious about my experiments, I’ll tell myself to slow down to ensure the quality of the experiments.
How do you unwind when you’re not in the office?
Decompose my histone and unwind my DNA (NO just kidding!)
I’m not an outdoor person; I enjoy staying in my room when I’m out of the lab. I found the joy of “brainless” novels now! I like reading simple plot novels to relax my brain. I used to love horror, thriller, mystery, and crime novels and movies. Now sometimes I still do, just not always.