Friday, June 9, 2017

URSP Student Rownaq Abidalrahim Conducts Next-Generation Sequencing



I have always been interested in the sciences. Ever since I was a child, I have grown to love all things science. In high school, I graduated with a Biotechnology Diploma and an Advanced Studies Diploma. I was interested in Next-Generation Sequencing the Fall of 2016 at George Mason University. My professor, Dr. Reid Schwebach, was my Biology 213 professor. He was very knowledgeable and kind to his students. I decided to stop by his office one afternoon. I showed him a short Protein Structure video I made and posted on YouTube. He loved it. He told me to join him and his team of researchers for his Next-Generation Sequencing project via OSCAR. I was assigned to create 5 videos regarding NGS. I can see my OSCAR research helping me to reach my long-term goals. I wish to pursue a medical career. I want to stand out to medical schools, so doing more STEM research will help me immensely. On a weekly basis, I work hard. First, every Tuesday at 12:00 pm, I have a meeting with my mentors. We discuss what the next video is going to entail, and how I should design them. For the first video, I provided them a script, an audio, and some graphical assets in one meeting. They provide me their critiques, and I adjust accordingly.  Then, I go home, and use Adobe Suites. Here, I slowly create my videos with the magic of video editing. My audios are recorded in a soundproof room to ensure crisp sounds only. I add the audio to the video whilst I edit. One thing I discovered this term was how to crunch a large amount of information into a span of 4-5 minutes. These videos are educational, and each video packs lot of information. I have learned to summarize, explain, and illustrate information in a short amount of time. Creating my videos takes hours of work, but every minute is worth it.