Week 10! The End of Summer 2024

 As the last week of my internship comes to a close, I am very happy with my decision to work here this summer. I came to the Lyme & Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory at the MaineHealth Institute for Research completely unaware of this line of work. I knew that people had to be working with arboviral diseases, but I did not know all of this is done a few towns over from where I live. I truly believe that the behind the scenes work that individuals in this field do is incredible, and positively impacts the communities lives more often then one might think. This is definitely a field that I would love to work in again, and am eagerly awaiting another opportunity!

My Last Week

As my week went, I spent a majority of my time on once again… mosquito identification. I know that I write about this very often, but it was certainly a highlight of my summer. I have enjoyed progressing in my skill set, as every correct ID is like a little victory. I have come a long way in 10-weeks, developing skills that will be beneficial if I find myself working in microscopy again. 

 

Additionally I made my last visit of the summer to the Wells Reserve, conducting surveillance for the UMaine Long-Term study. I went on a day that saw heavy rain in the morning, drying out in the afternoon. I think this rain is likely why I did not have success in collection, as I did not bring home any ticks. While this was a pleasant thought, since I had no worry of finding ticks on my body, it was unfortunate that I did not have reportable data to provide UMaine. 

 

Lastly, I was tasked with another literature review, but this time on Eastern Equine Encephalitis. I read through two publications, annotating the papers, and summarizing what I had found.

 

Summer in Review

I have held many different roles throughout this summer. Some of these included tick/mosquito surveillance and identification to the species level, larval mosquito collection, bird-banding tick surveillance, small mammal trapping for tick presence, Vector-Borne Disease Working Group meetings, MHIR lectures, and NEVBD Summer Seminars. To complete all of these things in 10 short weeks is really amazing and I am thankful to be put in these positions to learn and grow as an individual. 

 

I am excited to build off of this experience as I begin graduate school in two weeks. Finding a discipline like vector-borne diseases will undoubtably aid my learning, as I may be able to tailor research projects to address vector-borne disease concerns. While moving forward in my journey in the professional world, I will continue to explore new and challenging fields that may turn out to be my passion. As I have seen from time-to-time throughout these 10-weeks, trying something new can leave an everlasting impact. And I am happy to say that I loved my time spent this summer, and plan to pursue similar opportunities in vector biology/ecology as they become available!

 

Thank you to everyone who has followed along with my journey. I hope that this blog was informative and interesting to you all. I have really enjoyed writing these posts and believe that this blog may provide a terrific overview of what it is like to be an intern at a vector-borne disease laboratory!