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Recently, members of the Camp Lab co-authored an on a novel adapter protein, MdfA, that was found in bacteria that form spores. The paper covers the potential role MdfA plays in protein degradation that leads to spores becoming dormant. This allows bacteria to survive harsh environmental conditions, similar to how plants, such as pine trees, produce dormant seeds that can survive winter and grow in spring. The study of protein degradation is a growing field of research, as it occurs in all living things and is a key step in how human pathogens, such as C. diff, form spores.

If most or all of that went over your head, you aren’t alone. I had no idea what that meant when I joined the Camp Lab almost three years ago.

The Camp Lab is a research lab at Mount Holyoke. It’s named after and led by faculty member Amy Hitchcock Camp. I first met Amy when I took her class on molecular genetics, a required course for my biochemistry major. I’ll admit that I had little intention of pursuing independent research as an undergrad when I came to MHC. I enjoyed my class labs, but I was intimidated by the idea of working with peers and faculty who were already experts in their field. As Amy had decades of research and bacteria strains that were as old as I was, I was scared of how naive I would appear to her.

Being in an independent research lab was, maybe predictably, nothing like being in a classroom lab. The phrase “drinking out of a firehose” comes to mind when I think of my first semester in the Camp Lab. Every day felt like I was learning a textbook’s worth of information on vocabulary, lab techniques and current research. It was a challenge to keep all the information straight, and I often asked questions and needed help around the lab. And yet, I never felt that Amy was frustrated with my lack of knowledge or disappointed when I needed help. Even when I knew she was busy writing manuscripts or lesson plans or grading papers, Amy made time to help me adjust to lab work: walking me through procedures and answering my questions.

As Amy taught me how to navigate the ins and outs of student-led research, I started realizing how fun research could be. During the week, I chatted with labmates in between experiments, lost track of time hypothesizing new interpretations of data with Amy or cracked jokes in my presentation to peer collaborators in the Berry Lab. I had expected research to be a difficult task, something you don’t enjoy in the moment but appreciate when it’s over; however, the research I’ve done in the Camp Lab has mostly felt easy because I was always excited to find out what came next. What questions would the data collection generate? How would that change our understanding of how sporulation progresses? Science fueled my curiosity, and curiosity, in turn, fueled my work in science.

Now that I’m coming to the final weeks of my undergraduate research experience, I find myself, like many students, nervous about what research looks like outside of Mount Holyoke. Undoubtedly, it’s been a stressful year to be graduating as someone interested in microbiology and health research with the current political climate in America. Admittedly, I’m not eager to leave a community that has treated me so well, but my appetite for research has me looking for more research opportunities beyond the gates of Mount Holyoke. No lab environment will ever be the same as the Camp Lab, but I take comfort in knowing that Amy has given me the tools I need to create a similar community elsewhere — one with empathy, joy and curiosity.