“What starts here changes diagnostics” would be the best method of depicting the DIY Diagnostics stream. This stream has given me the opportunity to conduct clinical trials as an undergraduate student and has changed my perception of laboratory research. After two semesters of taking this stream, I fully consider myself a scientist with the help of Dr. Riedel’s (our Primary Investigator) guidance. This stream covers an array diagnostics that covers things such as detecting fecal matter to working on creating a diagnostic for Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Riedel will work with each individual student to see his/her success in their project and can even provide you the tools you will need to flourish in any laboratory.
During my first semester in the stream, Dr. Riedel provided us the protocol for our experiments and expected us to comprehend how to follow a protocol and experience how to conduct an experiment with the guidance of our mentors. Initially, I felt completely lost as to what I was doing and it was quite difficult conducting complex experiments. After a few experiments, I started to get the hang of conducting diagnostics in the lab and was excited to perform them. From making an app using various programming languages such as HTML5 and Java to making LAMP diagnostics, I started to feel more comfortable with the stream. After working in the lab for an entire semester, I finally got the hang of the stream and wanted to take the stream for another semester.
The second semester was quite different because Dr. Riedel wanted us to make our own independent diagnostic or join a running diagnostic team, therefore I joined his Parkinson’s Keystroke Diagnostic team. This running project was created by Dr. Riedel and it interested me because one of my family members has Parkinson’s Disease. I was fascinated by the fact that there has never been a solid method of diagnosing this disease that ultimately affects 1 million Americans and it motivated me to join. Throughout the fall semester, my partner Sebastian Enrico and I went out and conducted clinical trials with participants that have Parkinson’s Disease. To diagnose this disease we utilized a program called “InputLog” that tracks the keystroke of the user and we wanted to identify what variables correlate with the disease. In the future, this study plans on working with Neurosurgeons that specialize in Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). The Parkinson’s diagnostic team will work and develop a pre-surgery and post-surgery trial sample to determine whether or not the patient has progressed in their Parkinson’s.
I am very fortunate to have worked under this stream as an undergraduate due to the experience was given and friends I have attained throughout both semesters. This stream has combined my passion of venturing into the unknown and helping others into a two-semester class. I highly recommend anyone to join.