My name is Dania Rahal. I am a junior in the J. William Fulbright College majoring in chemistry with a biochemistry concentration and minoring in biology. I have been funded by the Honors College Research Grant for the spring and fall of 2020. I worked in Dr. Beyzavi’s lab in the chemistry department, where I researched new organoplatinum complexes with the goal of identifying complexes that would serve as improved drugs for breast cancer treatment. The overarching goal of this research is to reduce the negative side-effects observed by many current cancer treatment drugs and improve treatment efficiency as well.

As a student who aspires to join the medical field, this topic (which was already an ongoing project in Dr. Beyzavi’s lab) was of great interest to me. Having a chronic illness myself, I aspire to conduct research to improve current treatments/medications for long-term health management, as I understand the impact such progress can have on an individual level and on the entire field. I discovered Dr. Beyzavi’s lab through another student who was already involved. Through my own research on his lab’s website, I identified that Dr. Beyzavi’s projects aligned with my own interests, and that the opportunities provided by his lab would improve me as a student and future researcher. Dr. Beyzavi currently serves as my research mentor.

During the research period (excluding the complications due to the coronavirus), I would visit the lab for about 4 hours a week and would focus heavily on analyzing the organoplatinum complexes that I had helped develop.  This included collecting data on the fluorescence and UV-characteristics of each drug. This process required continuous work at the lab’s computer while running machines and programs to collect data. I really enjoyed learning how to operate the machines in the lab, as well as learning how to prepare a sample for analysis. The programs and machines I used for my research were unlike anything I had seen or used in my regular class-based labs. As such, I experienced a huge learning curve as I figured out how to collect the data I needed from these programs and was able to gain exposure to higher-level lab techniques. Throughout the research process, I had guidance from more experienced undergraduate students as well as a graduate student, as teamwork was encouraged. Going into this project, I had mostly envisioned myself working alone, but I have quickly learned how much of a team-effort research is on all levels.

The analysis of each set of organoplatinum drugs took several hours and several trips to the lab, but when each set was complete I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and pride. Additionally, I improved my skills on Excel through learning to display the data I collected and practiced my research presentation skills at a group lab meeting with my mentor and colleagues. As of now, I have never presented my own research at a conference, but it is something I would really like to do before I graduate.

The major challenge I faced in both semesters were the interruptions caused by Covid-19, which limited how much I could be in the lab. I do believe that had it not been for the coronavirus, I could have accomplished twice as much as I actually did. However, I was grateful that my mentor, Dr. Beyzavi, took the health of all his lab members seriously and stressed following proper social distancing, wearing masks, and quarantining from lab during spikes in cases on campus and when sick. This was a challenge that no one was able to escape this year, and I am pleased that despite Covid-19, I was still able to learn valuable skills in Dr. Beyzavi’s lab which I plan to use in the future. Dr. Beyzavi has been excellent in guiding me through the research process and providing me with the opportunities to hone my research skills. Throughout the research period, I was able to contact him at any time with questions I had about our research and receive feedback. In addition to being accessible and helpful, Dr. Beyzavi was very encouraging and stressed the importance of understanding and learning from our research experiences for future opportunities. As a second-semester junior, I am beginning to give my honors thesis much thought and hope to continue with projects like this one in the semesters to come.