HO DING FENG

28 July 2022

I had the exciting opportunity of participating in a research project in the Laboratory of Microbial Biofilms (LMB) in 2022. This project marks the beginning of my journey in scientific research, I was quite excited and also slightly nervous. I remember showing up the first day and being all eager to start doing something, but Dr Ch’ng started off with teaching me the first crucial skill: Planning. Dr Ch’ng lead by example and showed me how he himself had his own daily experiments planned down to the intricate details. While I found this to be utterly troublesome initially, I soon came to appreciate and understand the significance of a proper protocol. I was also tasked with preparing a project proposal with a timeline, this dictated how I should proceed with the project and also deepened my knowledge on the topic.

My journey through research in LMB was definitely filled with ups and downs. Prior to this project, my experience of working in a lab and conducting experiments were close to none (LSM2191 does not count…). Fortunately, Dr Ch’ng and Ms Muthu Mugil had endless patience in guiding me through the basic skills of lab work. I was given much freedom in how ever I wish to tackle the project, Dr Ch’ng supports the notion of taking ownership over your own project. It was both fun and daunting to be given the responsibility to take charge and decide what you wanted to do, its kinda like being thrown into deep waters where you could do your own exploring and discovery. I made many mistakes (like a lot) along the way as I attempted to pick up certain skills, this trial and error process gave me the adequate practice needed to get better. Unquestionably, I have learnt and gained so much in this one semester at LMB.

Being a novice in research, I was not accustomed to how harsh the process could sometimes be in dishing out experimental failures and results that absolutely made no sense. I recall (and this is embarrassingly hilarious as I look back) that I was trying measure the yield of some DNA that I extracted. However, it turns out that the yield was so low that the machine could not quantitate it. I walked into Dr Ch’ng’s office with “?!?!?!?” floating above my head as I seek guidance. Dr Ch’ng was patient, he took the time to go through possible troubleshoots and gave me a push in the right direction, encouraging that I should always remain unfazed in the process.

Apart from the thrills of conducting experiments in the lab, I also had the opportunity seat in on  LMB’s lab meetings that occurs every fortnight. I had zero clue when it comes to presenting any experimental data, my presentations were disastrous chaos accompanied with funny looking amateur slides. Luckily, lab meeting is a friendly avenue for everyone to help and comment on each other’s progress. Through this, I gained slightly more confidence in myself. LMB has a great culture of everyone constantly looking out for one another (I myself received a great deal of help). It was pleasantly heartwarming to know everyone supports each other even when busy with their own project. I’m especially to thankful to the passionate lab technician (who drinks way too much coffee) for always staying back late and helping me ponder on why my experiments failed. I also want to highlight that while Dr Ch’ng gives you freedom to make your own decisions, his door remains open if you ever need guidance. It was this open and non judgemental environment that really facilitated my learning.

Lastly, my research journey here was made all the more better with the other members of LMB: Dilyn, Karen, Xin Ying & Larry. I’m grateful for the support and what you guys have taught me both inside and outside of the lab. As cliché as it sounds, I enjoyed my time at LMB and do not regret anything.