This article is the second in a new series on the summer experiences of our undergraduate majors. In the coming weeks we will feature brief stories from undergraduate Chemistry and Biochemistry majors who worked in unique research and internship positions.

From undergraduate Biochemistry major Susanna Huang,

It was very nice having the opportunity to work at the Lawerence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) this summer! I had a chance to see how protein crystals are diffracted as well as the chance to collect some of my own practice diffraction data. I also was able to set up 19 crystallography plates (456 wells) by hand to grow protein and DNA crystals. I even learned how to cryoprotect and harvest my own crystals too! Currently, I have my 48 harvested crystals sitting in liquid nitrogen at LBNL, and I hope to have the opportunity to remotely diffract the crystals in the fall semester of this year! (Other things that I learned as well: It is really chilly in the evenings at Berkeley, the UC Berkeley squirrels are super super friendly, and there are beautiful deer and turkey in the Berkeley hills!)