Q: How did you find your internship with Glycologix?
Lily: I’m a senior at Endicott College. I’m a bio/biotech major. I wanted to do an internship in a lab setting because I hadn’t done one yet. My internship coordinator sent out an e-mail to all the bio/biotech majors about an opportunity at Glycologix and I reached out to Harry [Shain] to tell him I was interested. When we met over Zoom, I was in Denmark studying abroad so everything was online. He liked me enough so, then I had an interview with him, Rich [Heidebrecht], and Dan [Deardorf]. That’s how I ended up here.
Q: What kind of assignments do you get tasked with as the intern?
The work is split up a little bit. If we’re doing data entry, sometimes I’m assigned that, but other times we’ll split it up depending on how much data input we have to do. I’ve flushed out the Tangential Flow Filter, which is how they filter out their products. Last week, Harry had to go home early, so I had to filter out a reaction myself. I do some cleaning for them. I’ve done the quality control on the Dynamic Light Scatter. I’ve actually been able to run one of the reactions myself with Harry’s supervision. Harry is giving me stuff that he can do, one, because he wants me to do it to learn, and two, it’s just nice for him to have an extra set of hands for different things.
Q: You mentioned not having internship experience in a lab setting before. How has this internship compared to others that you have done in the past?
It’s a lot better. My first internship was during COVID and I did it at an eye doctor’s office which was very different, but at that time I was thinking about going to medical school. Because it was working with people and I wasn’t certified, I could only do so much. I definitely have more responsibilities for this internship than my other one.
Q: What’s been your favorite part of this internship so far?
Because we’re such a small company, I sit in on their weekly meetings with other members of Glycologix as well as the weekly meeting with the manufacturing company they’ve partnered with to upscale their product. It’s really cool and interesting to be on the other side, more the business side of a biotech startup, rather than just the science side being in the lab. I feel like with this internship I’m getting a well-rounded experience.
Q: What do you want to do with this in the future?
I’m thinking of going into medical research for a biotech company as of now, but I’m not really sure yet. I definitely want to pursue getting a PhD, but I’ll probably take a year or two after graduating college before I apply for grad school, just to give myself some time in between. Basically, from high school to now you’re just going right through. Plus, it’s more time to gain experience.
Q: What’s your favorite movie or TV show?
Probably Friends. I can watch that over and over.
Q: Do you prefer the beach or the mountains?
Beach
Q: Hot dog or hamburger?
Hamburger.
Q: What do you put on your burger?
If it’s a cheeseburger, then nothing. If it’s just a plain hamburger, then ketchup.
What about your favorite sports team?
The Red Sox.