Jocelyn Zambrano Alvarado
Lab affiliation: Uyaguari- Diaz Lab
Degree(s) you hold: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
Degree being sought (M.Sc./Ph.D.): M.Sc.
Hometown (City, Country—list multiple if you have them!): Guayaquil, coast of Ecuador.
Your research project in one sentence: Advanced microbiological methods for monitoring impacted watersheds in rural Manitoba.
A picture of you:
Lab affiliation: Uyaguari- Diaz Lab
Degree(s) you hold: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
Degree being sought (M.Sc./Ph.D.): M.Sc.
Hometown (City, Country—list multiple if you have them!): Guayaquil, coast of Ecuador.
Your research project in one sentence: Advanced microbiological methods for monitoring impacted watersheds in rural Manitoba.
A picture of you:
What do you do to relax when you have a lazy day at home?
Well, as graduate students we do not have many lazy days... But, when possible, I do love reading e-books about artists and the secret of their success.
What are you most excited about for 2022? Goals?
I am very excited for all the new personal and academic knowledge and skills I am acquiring. I do love my new ability of reading super fast (thanks to the very long academic articles I had to read in ´no time´ since I entered grad school). I am also looking forward to see the Geese outside university again.
What techniques do you/will you most often use in your project?
Deep amplicon sequencing of 16SrRNA and 18SrRNA and qPCR.
What's one silly mistake you've made in the lab?
Only one? Once I mixed the filters of 2 different samples during a Nucleic Acids extraction. We wanted to identify which water effluent had SARS-COV-2. I realized what happened a millisecond after making the mistake, it felt so fresh that I wanted to go back on time, only one second…Anyway, thankfully we did not have to repeat all the process.!!
What are any current problems you are having with your research?
The programming languages and other bioinformatic tools do not seem very friendly, to be honest. However, they are extremely useful… so I have mixed feelings about that.
Anyway, I am extremely happy and very thankful to be able to contribute to the field of aquatic health and learn something new everyday!
What did you hope to get out of grad school in the beginning compared to now? Or (if you’ve just begun) what are you looking forward to?
I have always loved studying and learning. Besides, I find lab work very relaxing (when nobody is rushing you for a result). I thought everything was “easy” when we do what we like but grad school and being in a different place with a different education system, has showed me the other side of the coin. I will use a metaphor: I thought grad school was going to teach me how to fly, but now I just hope to be exposed to the right resources to learn how to fly myself.
Well, as graduate students we do not have many lazy days... But, when possible, I do love reading e-books about artists and the secret of their success.
What are you most excited about for 2022? Goals?
I am very excited for all the new personal and academic knowledge and skills I am acquiring. I do love my new ability of reading super fast (thanks to the very long academic articles I had to read in ´no time´ since I entered grad school). I am also looking forward to see the Geese outside university again.
What techniques do you/will you most often use in your project?
Deep amplicon sequencing of 16SrRNA and 18SrRNA and qPCR.
What's one silly mistake you've made in the lab?
Only one? Once I mixed the filters of 2 different samples during a Nucleic Acids extraction. We wanted to identify which water effluent had SARS-COV-2. I realized what happened a millisecond after making the mistake, it felt so fresh that I wanted to go back on time, only one second…Anyway, thankfully we did not have to repeat all the process.!!
What are any current problems you are having with your research?
The programming languages and other bioinformatic tools do not seem very friendly, to be honest. However, they are extremely useful… so I have mixed feelings about that.
Anyway, I am extremely happy and very thankful to be able to contribute to the field of aquatic health and learn something new everyday!
What did you hope to get out of grad school in the beginning compared to now? Or (if you’ve just begun) what are you looking forward to?
I have always loved studying and learning. Besides, I find lab work very relaxing (when nobody is rushing you for a result). I thought everything was “easy” when we do what we like but grad school and being in a different place with a different education system, has showed me the other side of the coin. I will use a metaphor: I thought grad school was going to teach me how to fly, but now I just hope to be exposed to the right resources to learn how to fly myself.