Life-changing Science: The BioBuilder Podcast
Episode 12: Angela Girodier.
Quotes:
-“It was through the apprenticeship program where I started developing an understanding of how to use science and tech to dive deep into Synthetic Biology.”
-“A Huge part of the lab experience was using your peers to help revise your lab notebook techniques and overall lab skills.”
-“I was always interested in finding a way to better alter things at a molecular level that would help have a better impact on society and understanding the human body.”
-“The great part about the BB apprenticeship program is that they help you find paid internships right after.”
-“Doing the BB apprenticeship program allowed me to be ahead of the class. Most of the concepts being learnt was second nature to me.”
-“There are a lot of kids in the low income community that don’t have the opportunities that I did. I want to be a voice through not only my teaching but also the opportunities that I can offer them.
-“In order to do major things in the very competitive science industry, you need to have experience. With the apprenticeship program, you build the experience there, and can add that to your resume. I was able to build my resume from the apprenticeship program.”
Keywords:
High school research, BioBuilder Apprenticeship Program, Career development, MassBiologics,
Merck, Emmanuel College, teaching, research.
Transcript:
Zeeshan Siddiqui (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to life changing science, the BioBuilder podcast. I’m your host Zeeshan Siddiqui. And today I talk with Angela Girodier. Angela is a senior undergraduate student, majoring in biology and secondary education at Emmanuel College, and is an alumni of the BioBuilder Apprenticeship Program. Her past research experience involved working with the molecular interactions team at Merck, interning at Mass Biologics in Process Development and Assisting in the CURE lab at Emmanuel college. Let’s dive right into this episode.
New Speaker (00:35):
When did you first start to get interested in science and biology in particular?
Angela Girodier (00:41):
Yeah. So this kind of goes back to eighth grade middle school. I had this incredible science teacher and she had this kind of quest to find different things related to science and basically writing about it. And we had like, it’s, it’s a scavenger hunt. So there was a hundred things on the list was paired up with a group and that was so fun. I never knew science could be that fun. I usually had like science labs and I was like, oh, which is the diet Coke or the regular Coke, like more dense. And that was like the basic thing that I’ve ever like done. And, and for me, you know, science was just a regular course. And so that eighth graders got a scavenger hunt really got me interested in the different ideas of science. I did really well for that class.
Angela Girodier (01:28):
And so transitioning into high school, they kind of assess where you were in middle school and put you in classes. So instead of going regularly in bio, like a regular biology course, your freshman year of high school, and then taking, you know, chem the next and physics and whatever the elective is your senior year, I went straight into this biotechnology pathway that was introduced to the high school, I think the year before I went. So it was the second rotation or second year of that program. And so it was four year class. But it’s biotechnology, you do experiments, fun stuff, all these things at that time, my sophomore junior year, I was watching a lot of like Bones and Criminal Minds and all those things. So I, I wanted to be a forensic anthropologist. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched the show Bones, but the main characters is a forensic anthropologist and I just loved the way she sounded.
Angela Girodier (02:26):
She was like so smart. And I was like, yeah, I’m gonna do this. It’s gonna be so much fun. So I knew I had like an interest in science. I just didn’t know what exactly. And then going back to my sophomore year, I believe I had one of my teachers at the biotech pathway. And I can tell you, like, why he’s so important to me and how he’s helped me with the BioBuilder. We were doing a lot of things. We were learning about Hela cells. We were learning about the seven daughters. So understanding where our cells come from our ancestry through science. We learned a lot about bacterial transformation and then we wrote a grant proposal. So we worked in a group and I think our grant proposal was like 12 to 20 pages and we had to present it.
Angela Girodier (03:13):
And I think I remember mine was about multiple sclerosis. So identifying a way to possibly treat or decrease cases in that. And that was very exciting for me. Part of my background, when I was 11, my mom had a stroke and so I had to kind of take the responsibility of that and take care of her and my family. But I wouldn’t, they know, ever knew exactly why that happened. It was just like, oh, you know, the bleeding, but there was no effect. You know, if your family member is really, really healthy, they’re strong. It’s like, how does this happen? Like as an 11 year old, I, I didn’t know what was happening, why it happened. So when I did that grant proposal, the fact that I see research and take that into account and use research and science to help understand why our bodies do the things they do and how can we alter specific things within the molecular level.
Angela Girodier (04:15):
So that way it can change outputs. So that way our body is reacting better or we’re decreasing something. So, you know, with that grant proposal, I focus specifically on a certain gene. And then I think I propose like having an injection by the spinal cord because I would get straight to the blood marrow, which contains a lot of blood. And I think I, that was just really exciting for me, the fact that I was able to understand something and kind of research and get to a point to kind of create an answer or a treatment for it. So that was really, really exciting for me. And so he saw my interest in there. I didn’t have him my junior year. I had another teacher my junior year, but my junior year I was mentoring. I was coming back to his classes and helping him out.
Angela Girodier (05:06):
He was like, Hey, like, there’s this great program that’s happening. And you know, he was a part of BioBuilder. There was a BioBuilder club happening in my school. I wasn’t a part of it. So I didn’t know. And he kind of like led me, me into applying for the BioBuilder program. And then after I did that, I had him again my senior year and we did a antibiotic resistance project where we took like bacteria from our soil and then really tested different strains to see how bacteria resistance became over time. We got to present that. So I think it all started with that grant proposal and understanding the impact that one individual can have, if not one multiple people can have, if they really understand signs and how it relates to the body. So I think that’s where, like my love for science and research and the opportunities that it had started.
Zeeshan Siddiqui (06:03):
Yeah. Just, just tell us a bit more about that experience of one, you know, finding out that you’re gonna be part of the apprenticeship program.
Angela Girodier (06:11):
Yeah. So like I said, after my sophomore year in my junior year, that’s when I started applying. So right before I think it was 2017. That was when I took part in BioBuilder. So like mayby March through May of 2017. However I applied probably December of 2016. So at that time I was mentoring for for my teacher’s class. So he allowed me to come back to his freshman classes and help him out and kind of help guide students. He was like, Hey, like, you know, I know you’re interested and I know you did really good in the grant proposal. Like this is a great opportunity that’s happening. And he really saw my passion in science. So I was really glad that he reached out to me. I know there was a couple other kids who were part of the BioBuilderClub that was happening.
Angela Girodier (07:01):
I wasn’t part of it, but I just like was really interested. So I was like, okay, sure, I’ll apply. And this is something that I wasn’t used to all throughout my high school career. In the fall I ran cross country. So I did know having a sport and tackling academics and doing a sport was kind of hard. And so going into the, like the second half of the year, I was like, well, I’m not doing any sports. I have more time. You know, I have a car, I got my license. So I so I, I kind of went through the I, the Apprenticeship website with that teacher looked at the requirements, all of these things. And with him, he kind of guided me through like, okay, how to write a resume, how to write a cover letter going through there was like questions, like pretest questions, I think.
Angela Girodier (07:54):
And so I went through that and I kind of just waited. And so, so he like told me I went to his class. He was like, yeah, like, I wanna let you know, you got in. I was like, really what, like I got in. And the crazy thing is I didn’t tell my parents that I was applying to it. I just was like, yeah, I’m just gonna do it. And see if I get in, I didn’t think I was gonna get in because I knew all the other kids from BioBuilder, they had experience with synthetic biology. So I thought they would get in and I got it. And it was great.
Zeeshan Siddiqui (08:27):
So, yeah, let’s talk more in detail about the, how long was the Apprenticeship program?
Angela Girodier (08:33):
So it was about two months, two or three months. So I remember it starting in March and then ending in May. And then the end was our presentation on our projects that we have been working on throughout the year.
Zeeshan Siddiqui (08:47):
What project were you working on?
Angela Girodier (08:51):
For the two, three months during the program on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we had basically learning experience. So we learned how to calculate molarity, how to calculate percentage of molarity. We learned backgrounds on the different things in synthetic biology. So like the TATA box having an input and an output we also learned about different things kind, building resumes, how to write resumes, cover letters, things like that. And then on Saturdays, we were in the lab exploring different things. So I talked about bacterial transformation that I did my early on years. We also worked with that understanding the different components of and how we can kind of use enzymes to cut certain areas of that plasmid and insert certain new genes to help that plasma express something different. That was huge because again, I’ve never had hands on experience in working in actual lab where I had all of these resources with me.
Angela Girodier (09:56):
It was great for my back my biotech program, because we had things like that, but it wasn’t where we had independence doing these things. And so it wasn’t until the Apprenticeship program that I really like started developing an understanding of how to use science and how to use the technology of science to really dive deep into synthetic biology. It’s also important to mention that while I was in the labs, it wasn’t just like focusing on experiments and how to make calculations and doing all these things. A huge part of it was using your peers to help revise your lab notebook techniques. So I was put in a group and with that group, they would read over my lab reports, make sure that I had all the components needed, and that really showed me what was needed in actual research setting.
Angela Girodier (10:53):
So if I were to go in a research lab, this is what they would expect. So I was really grateful for that in the Thursday and Tuesday time when we had the opportunity to create a system. So we, one of the things that we focused on was issues in the science or in the world that we valued. So a lot, do people, did their research on understanding like the cosmetology aspect of science, so how our creams and like, things like that, that we’re putting in our face, how, like the science related to that,.I believe that my group talked about biofuels and understanding the impact of biofuels and how we can change biofuels to help kind of better science and so understanding the different components of that. So part of our research was doing that part and we presented that with a group and then our other research towards the end, I have like a clear, like a, a gray area box of like exactly what we did in there, just because it was so long ago.
Angela Girodier (12:10):
However, I, I remember it like using the TATA box, using the inputs and outputs. So you have like a box, what are you putting in off and on genes, things of that. So, and creating a system where we would alter and change something. I can’t remember the specific probably get back to me, but I know we just talked about so many different things, but the end project that we really focused on was understanding that operon gene and the, the sequence specifically targeting transcription of bacteria and how that works and then using different genes to help impact how well something is being expressed.
Zeeshan Siddiqui (12:54):
That’s so cool that you got to do all this near junior year, because I think I didn’t do it until second year of college. What was the, okay. I’m sure there was like every day you’d learn something new during the Apprenticeship program. What do you think was the most exciting part? Was there like a particular day where, you know, you had like, maybe like Eureka moment where you’re like, wow, where you saw, how big of an impact synthetic biology can have. Yeah. Was it maybe a particular experiment or maybe a conversation with, you know, one of the lab demonstrators also, maybe the whole experience could have been like a wow moment, but was there any, any particular science that really, really piqued your interest?
Angela Girodier (13:35):
Eah. I think the number one thing that really piqued my interest was the understanding of plasmid DNA and bacterial transformation. So I was introduced to it, however I didn’t really go in depth in terms of using lab equipment to understand how to do it. So this was something that was very, very new to me. I didn’t understand, like, it was just like huge, weird phenomenon that I didn’t know existed. And it’s weird because I feel like there’s so many things in science that we don’t know until you learn it. And you’re like, wow, this is crazy. The ability that you can transform genes and basically alter genes inside an organism and allow it to express something completely different. We talked about the green, green fluorescent proteins and the, you know, red fluorescent proteins. I knew there were a thing in like in high school because we talked about it just briefly, but to actually see it in, in action and, and to see and understand how that happens and how to really go about calculating the size of plasmids and knowing exactly where to insert it knowing what enzymes to use.
Angela Girodier (14:53):
So the diversity and the variations and things that you needed to know just was like, I know this is a lot of information, but that’s insane. The fact that like our human minds can really go above and beyond. And with the help of the scientific technology really do that, that’s, it just blew my mind. And it kind of just sparked my interest, you know, when I talked to you about the grant proposal and how the, you know, with my background and with like my family and stuff I always was interested in finding a way to better and alter things in a molecular level that would help have a better impact on society and understanding the human body. So with my grant proposal, you know, I talked about a gene and how, you know, there might be a medication that you can, you know, inject that might help decrease MS.
Angela Girodier (15:54):
But with this allowed me to have a endless opportunity in curiosity of if I can do this in bacterial organisms and, and you know, change a gene to help it express something else, how could that be done in humans? So that way the illnesses and pathological things that are consequences of our body not working, how can you do that to alter it? So that way things work properly, and we can decrease the rates of so many things that are happening right now. And so that kind of helped me look into CRISPR. I, I, I explored CRISPR just a little bit. However, I, this is something like even present day right now that I still would like to continue to understand, because it does dive into that gen genetic molecular transformation in altering things. So that way we can better living for all in every individual.
Zeeshan Siddiqui (16:55):
It’s safe to say BioBuilder, that program had quite a big impact on you. <Laugh> what I really wanna also wanna ask is how did the Apprenticeship program, you know, once you completed the program, how did that influence, so your career choices next, so starting off with a major you applied to in college, as well as some of the internship opportunities that came after. So let’s start talking about when, I guess you were in your senior year and you were, you know, thinking about applying to colleges and majors. I’m pretty sure by <laugh>, would’ve influenced maybe what major you were you were going fufill.
Angela Girodier (17:36):
Yeah. So after my experience in BioBuilder, I had the great opportunity to kind of intern. So they, the great thing about this program is they help you find internships right after, during the summer. And these are paid internships, which is great. So you are getting paid for your work but you’re also experiencing and learning so much more. And so from there, I was able to get a internship at mass biologics, which is like in Mattapan, not too far from our Apprenticeship in Cambridge. And it was close enough that the commute wasn’t too bad for me. And there, I worked with process development downstream, where we did a lot of chromatography cation, and anion. I learned how to make different buffers. I learned lots of aseptic techniques, how to sterilize my glassware. I learned how to calibrate pipettes so many different basic techniques that anyone can probably think of. And then at the end I was able to run my own chromatography and really understand that so that kind of doves with the more biochem side of things. And so,
Zeeshan Siddiqui (18:55):
And I guess with, sorry to interrupt you, but, you know, you mentioned some really, really, you know, fundamentally really important. It seems some basic techniques, but you need to get these techniques right. In order for, you know, the big experiments to work, but do you think the Apprenticeship program and being exposed to, you know, biotech slash synthetic biology through the Apprenticeship program gave you more confidence while working in a lab at Mass Biologics?
Angela Girodier (19:23):
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I didn’t know what I was gonna expect. But I had pipetting down, so I, I understand <laugh> which is it’s, it’s crazy. That’s important. Yeah. and the reason why I say that is, you know, I go into my first year of undergrad as a freshman, a lab that I had to do, and we spend an entire three hours trying to learn how to pipette. I was like, come on guys. This is something that I know, like, I was like, everyone’s struggling. Like, why are you guys struggling with doing this? It’s
Zeeshan Siddiqui (19:51):
I’m already a hit. Yeah.
Angela Girodier (19:53):
<Laugh>, that’s great. So I mean, it, things like that, you know, in pippetting as though it might seem so small and basic, it’s very important because when you are dealing with a, a certain amount of solution or whatever you’re, you’re dealing with, you need to make sure that your measurements are correct. Because then if you’re working with the company, then it might, you know, you might not have enough stock and that might alter, you know, if you’re doing a lot of trials, you might not get enough from the the client. And there’s, there’s a lot of issues that could be raised with that. So yeah, pipetting, basic pipette skills ,those understanding the way that different machines work. So how to use how to spin something, how to vortex something. Those were basic things that I did, there were some things that I didn’t do in that, up that internship that I did in the Apprenticeship, just because again, like I was dealing more with a biochem approach in my internship.
Angela Girodier (20:57):
So a lot of chromatography and enzymes and stuff like that, which I didn’t really do much of in the Apprenticeship. However, the things that I did in our Apprenticeship ended up really helping me in my undergrad labs. So I, those things were like very beneficial. And another thing that really helped was the math. I learned a lot of math. I didn’t know how to calculate molarity and percentage and all of those things. Because I took a chem, the Chemistry class I took, I was not really big on chemistry. And so after I did like all the math, I think when I was there in the biochem department, you need to understand how to do basic math, calculating molarity and all of those things. So like the C1V1
Zeeshan Siddiqui (21:43):
V1. Oh, good. Yeah. I just wanna come back to what you mentioned, some of the stuff you learned during the Apprenticeship program helped you during your undergrad labs. Let’s quickly talk about what helped you in the, what certain skill that you picked up during the Apprenticeship program helped you in the undergrad labs. I know we’re moving around everywhere. Yeah. And that’s fine. I think that that was a, that was a, that was a, that was really cool. So what particular techniques?
Angela Girodier (22:08):
So again, bacteria transformation, I did a whole lab on. I had a class called determinants of sorry, experimental biology. This was during COVID and I was the only student doing it virtual. So I was in that lab watching my teacher through a virtual camera. Everyone else was on campus. One thing too, is I commute. It helps me save money. But I commute here from Boston every day before when I had classes. So I had that class virtually cuz we had the option to come back virtual or in person. I was the only one who decided to do it virtual and at least my section. And it was amazing. I had so much background from the Apprenticeship program of like how to understand plasmid, how to calculate the size, how to understand different segments that are being cut up and where to insert genes, what enzymes are reusing, how does PCR work? And so all of those things really helped me. And even though I was taking that class virtually, I ended up really succeeding in that class. I was even asked by the professor to be an TA for that class, but unfortunately I was tutoring four other classes this semester. So I couldn’t.
Zeeshan Siddiqui (23:20):
You’re tutoring four classes. Yes. Amazing. Love it. Love it. That’s great.
Angela Girodier (23:25):
But it was, it was a good experience and like basic things like that helped me to be ahead, a lot of kids were either struggling with the concepts. But because of my experience with the Apprenticeship program, this was like second nature to me. So I was able to quickly grasp on things. And even if I was doing things virtual, I still had a great understanding. So when it came down to the lab reports, it was like cake for me. And the understanding was there, the understanding and content, like if my professor asked me a question, Hey, what, why are we doing this? And you know, what’s the reason for that instantly. I had, I knew the reason because of my background in the Apprenticeship program. <Affirmative>
Zeeshan Siddiqui (24:05):
Wow. That’s, that’s amazing. And I think what’s, I think a lot more, you know, going into the future I think a lot of classes will be virtual, you know, even in biochem where, you know, the teacher or tutor will set up, they have their setup in the lab and like have the camera and stuff. And you know, you’ve mentioned that you’re tutoring already and I, I, I think I can see you in the future or maybe even next semester, like teaching, can you see yourself teaching virtually?
Angela Girodier (24:32):
Yeah. So part of like, one of the questions that you kind of talked about in the beginning was what I’ve decided to do. And how does that lead? My course when I came into college I was a, a biochem major. And then I took a chemistry class and I was like, yeah, this is not for me. But so I took that off and I just was straight bio and then I ended up doing bio and secondary education. So currently as of graduation, I will graduate with a biology degree and a secondary education degree. The reason why I, I decided to do education and also biology, like I have such a heart in the love for science and the impact that it has on me is huge. And like even so part of my past internship that I mentioned before is working at Merck.
Angela Girodier (25:24):
So I did molecular interactions understanding can genetics enzymes and things like that during the past summer this upcoming spring semester, while I’m taking classes, I’m going to go back there and supporting them through their work. So science is still a huge part of me. I still like to involve myself as much as I can in, in the science industry, however, another of mind is helping others understand the background and the understanding of science. For me, I had a great professor and I had a great teacher in high school that really believed in me in my efforts and really pushed me to work hard and, you know, get to what I need to get to in science. And I know that there’s a lot of kids in the low income communities that don’t have the opportunities that I did.
Angela Girodier (26:13):
And I kind of wanna be a voice through that through not only my teaching, but the opportunities that I can offer them. A huge thing that I also learned from BioBuilder and the Apprenticeship program was the value of networking and building those connections. And so I’ve taken those skills and transferred it through every internship that I have keeping in contact with people who I’ve worked with in my past internships and you know, working with Merck and still working with Merck, building those connections. And so I wanna take my experience there and help kids in that high school level, because that’s where really when they’re trying to figure out where they wanna do in life. Yes. teaching is definitely something that I see in my future. And that doesn’t mean that research and science is something that I don’t see.
Angela Girodier (27:00):
My ultimate goal is potentially being a professor at a university, but I feel like my start needs to be at an area that I feel like I can provide more for, which is the low income community. And for kids of diverse backgrounds, because realistically you don’t see a lot of diversity in the STEM industry. You don’t see a lot of black females or a lot of immigrant females in this industry. It’s very competitive. And a lot of kids, they end up giving up way beforehand because they feel that they are not truly worth it, or they haven’t had that role model that was really there that helped them understand the content, but also gave them an opportunity to build on those curiosities and build on those challenges. So part of that is, you know, why I decided to go into teaching and I talked about tutoring.
Angela Girodier (27:48):
So this past semester I was tutoring for anatomy and physiology, biochem, intro to nutrition and anatomy and physiology class were nursing students. So it was a lot, but I loved it because I really saw the difference that I could make for even college students. I, and I’ve, and I feel like the, for me verifying what I have learned or understanding that I truly understand something is by teaching it. I tell like all my tutors, this, like when I study for classes for science classes and how I, how I was able to prepare for my interviews and my presentation was just talking to a wall and pretending that while I was a student and then like speaking and teaching the material to them. And so I really feel like with my tutoring and networking experiences and where my passion lies and the idea of helping people I can truly take that with me through the education system.
Angela Girodier (28:45):
And then continue my work through research, you know, just because you’re a teacher does not mean that you can’t be involved in research, you know, you have those summers off, you know, what, what are you gonna do with that summer, those summers. So there’s endless possibilities for people there. And another thing that I wanted to mention that I kind of didn’t mention, you kind of touched upon: the work that BioBuilder is doing right in now and the possibilities. One of the reasons why, you know, I, I could always go back to the science industry. But realistically, in order to do major things in the science industry, right after undergrad, you have to have experience you have to have knowledge and either if you, if you don’t have any internship opportunities, if you were never an intern interning during your undergrad, you need to make sure you get those hours or those experiences before you can really get a job.
Angela Girodier (29:39):
Because the science industry is very, very competitive. It’s you either need a master’s or you either need a a PhD now to like, do really big experience experiments. And to really have a say in the projects that you’re, working on. And, you know, I kind of talked about this, you know in private conversations, but with the Apprenticeship program, you build the experience there that is added to your resume. And so it’s not about, oh, well, I’m a high schooler going into undergrad. You have that experience. And now from there, you can build on, it creates a bigger and better experience. So that’s something else too. Like, you know, even though I go, I’m going into teaching, you know, I can still very much get a, a job in the STEM industry or with biotechnology because of how good my resume has been able to get just from the Apprenticeship program. That’s something that I wanted to add, but no, no, that’s,
Zeeshan Siddiqui (30:32):
That’s very true because it’s the first one is always the hardest to get. Right. And I think the Apprenticeship program or BioBuilderClub provides you that foundation, we, where you can just build on, cause the foundation is the most important thing, right. As long as you understand, get that first experience in the lab and understand some of the fundamentals, fundamental concepts of biochem, genetics, et cetera, then really the sky is the limit, right? Yeah. but yeah, building that base, that foundation is, is difficult and so important. <Affirmative> and I think BioBuilder definitely facilitates that.
Zeeshan Siddiqui (31:05):
Thanks once again, to Angela, for joining me today, I found it very insightful and inspiring when Angela mentioned how she wants to use her skillset and the platform that she has now to help kids from the low income community and ensure that everyone gets their shot. And this is the most remarkable thing about BioBuilder, where they offer the opportunity for anyone to enter the field of biology and create science that has a positive impact on society regardless of their background. I think this episode will be useful to anyone interested in learning more about the BioBuilder Apprenticeship program and how this opportunity helps launch the careers of young scientists with incredible potential. If you would like to learn more about anything, Angela and I discussed today, please refer to the show notes. And that was the final episode of the year. Thank you so much to everyone who has tuned in and supported this podcast. It has been such an amazing year talking to guests whose careers have been influenced by BioBuilder’s life-changing science. Have a wonderful new year and see you next time.