MISTI Taiwan Report

For MISTI Taiwan this summer, I conducted research at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences under Academia Sinica in Taipei. I did research on anti-PEG antibodies and liposomes, specifically engagers to target EphA2 signaling in cancer cells. From this lab, I gained a lot of laboratory experience, as I learned how to do ELISA, protein purification, MTT assay, etc. My project was to perform MTT assays under various conditions (different anti-cancer drugs, anti-PEG engagers, etc.) to see the effect on cell proliferation. Performing these assays helped me learn how to design experiments, whether it was becoming better at calculating concentrations or timing experiments. 

Another part of being a summer intern at Academia Sinica was attending group meetings. Unlike group meetings I went to in my past UROPs, the PI made us evaluate each speaker. Each meeting consisted of a progress report, journal club, and short journal. From these meetings, I had greater awareness of what consisted of a good presentation and what things could be done to improve a presentation. 

One thing I never experienced at MIT was weekly one-on-one meetings with the PI. At MIT, I had little to no interaction with the PI, so this opportunity was good. Even though there were times when the meeting did not go smoothly, I think overall they helped me learn how to design better experiments and become a more critical thinker when it came to troubleshooting problems. 

The major challenge of the internship was that I wasn’t really efficient with my research, partly because the lab didn’t really provide me with a formal supervisor (e.g. PhD student, postdoc) typically found in MIT UROPs. While I am glad that my research associate (a co-op student) taught me a lot of skills, sometimes I didn’t really know whether I was executing the experiment correctly. 

Also, my supervisor was busy with his experiments, making it hard for me to do additional experiments like western blots to test the phosphorylation of proteins. I think the lesson I learned was to design the protocol a few weeks earlier in advance to consider various problems like cell contamination or typhoon day. I acknowledge that I wasn’t as proactive as I should have been, which slowed down the progress of my experiments. 

The successes I experienced include learning how to read a paper properly for the first time by reading it many times and asking questions about the experimental design along with the supplementary methods. Another success was becoming better at the MTT assay and getting better data over time which gave me more useful information than before. I also became a better notetaker by recording all my observations, calculations, and steps, so I could communicate more effectively with my PI during the one-on-one meetings. 

I didn’t mind the people in my lab, though I wish that there was a greater emphasis on lab culture. Unlike the U.S., lab culture isn’t really a thing in Taiwan, as people mainly focus on whether their PI is good and whether they like the research. While I got along with my colleagues, I barely talked to them unless I had questions. Overall, it was a quiet environment. Another impression I had of Academia Sinica is that people’s relationship with their PIs is a lot more formal, as people call them lao shi (teacher) in Chinese. It reflects the culture found in East Asia, which involves deference. I didn’t speak much Chinese in the lab because English is used for research, but I did get to practice Chinese outside of work.

When it came to living in Taiwan, I enjoyed living here despite the rainy weather and humidity. Not only did I get to visit a lot of cultural attractions, but also I got to eat a lot of food that I didn’t get to eat in the U.S. I liked being immersed in an environment where I could practice my Chinese (reading, speaking, writing) as well as learn about Taiwanese culture. The people I encountered here were very friendly and welcoming, which I appreciated. I am very glad I got to spend a long time in Taiwan this summer to explore all the places around Taipei that I didn’t visit before or I forgot a long time ago, like the National Palace Museum and Jiufen.  

MISTI Taiwan made me realize that I did not want to pursue wet lab anymore, even though the research topic was genuinely interesting because of its medical applications to cancer. It further confirmed the fact that I didn’t want to do graduate school or do a research-heavy job in biotech or pharma. It made me want to pursue something more computational in the future. I simply didn’t like how hands-on and monotonous the experiments were and felt like the skills weren’t what I wanted to keep learning. 

Despite this, MISTI Taiwan has made me interested in doing another MISTI in Asia in the future like China or Singapore. If given the chance, I would come back to China and Taiwan to travel. I don’t know if I would be willing to go to Asia for work, but if it’s for an international company, then I might be interested.   

Before I end this report, I just want to thank the Fung Scholars Foundation for making this possible. Ever since I moved back to the U.S. from Taiwan in 2016, I always wanted to go back to Taiwan someday but never really had the opportunity to until now. I am very grateful for the foundation funding my trip, rent, and living expenses. It made traveling to and living in Taiwan not that stressful.