Hello readers! This Saturday we have Gurudatt Patra here to share his awesome internship experience with us. With no blah blah blah let’s get down to the questions and his answers.
InternFeel: Please tell us something about yourself. Where and what are you studying currently?
Gurudatt: Hi, I am Gurudatt Patra, second-year master’s student at Amrita School of Biotechnology, India. I am basically from Bhubaneswar. I have a great passion towards science and music.
InternFeel: Give us details about your internship – process of application, stipend, duration, and place?
Gurudatt: I got selected for the prestigious Khorana fellowship 2018. The process of application starts in late November every year and the results will be out at the beginning of February. The program pretty much covers all the expenses. It provides the entire air-fare to and fro and a stipend of 2500 USD for the entire period. The selected scholars have the preference to select any lab at any University throughout the USA and carry out summer research for a period of two and half months. I got placed at the University of California, Riverside in the Biochemistry Department for my Summer Research. It was a wonderful experience getting to work with the best of minds. This experience would definitely count in my journey as a scientist.
InternFeel: How competitive was the selection process? According to you, which qualities have helped you have an edge in the selection process? Also, what were the key things that selectors were looking for?
Gurudatt: The selection procedure is very competitive and only 50 students got selected throughout India out of thousands of application this year. According to me a well-written Statement of Purpose, good research experience, and good recommendation letters helped me have an edge in the selection process. The selectors look for the SOP, Previous research experience, CV, C.G.P.A, the university you belong to and letter of recommendation very carefully. You must state clearly how you have troubleshooted the things when you came across challenges.
InternFeel: Could you please highlight the work/research you carried out during your internship period?
Gurudatt: I had been placed at the University of California, Riverside where I worked on the project titled “Structure-Based Drug Discovery against PolQ” in the Biochemistry Department, I was involved in expression studies, purification and ligand validation against PolQ. Trying to understand the molecular pathways and identifying novel targets which may improve the efficiency and quality of biological therapeutics and may assist potential drug discovery.
InternFeel: Can you give us interesting details about your experience – good and bad? (It could be something like the amazing location of your internship, the friends you made for life, a bad senior, accommodation given in case of an outstation internship and something along those lines.)
Gurudatt: It was truly an incredible experience. The work was very exciting. And the other members of the lab were very friendly and always approachable. The place California is awesome. We literally get to see scenery everywhere. I also got an opportunity to attend a few talks and that has only increased my interest in research.
InternFeel: How do you think this internship has helped you grow? In other words, what are your key takeaways from the internship?
Gurudatt: Through this internship, I got a feel of how actual research is conducted. I got a chance to do the experiments that I had studied in theory back there in college. Getting this international exposure will definitely help me in deciding my further career in research.
InternFeel: Has this internship had a decision altering impact on your career? Do you now think of a different future path as compared to before doing the internship?
Gurudatt: Actually, I had already made the decision to pursue my career in Research. And this internship has only made it even stronger.
InternFeel: Lastly, do you have any words of advice or caution for students aspiring for this internship and reading this piece?
Gurudatt: I would advise the future aspirants of this prestigious program to put a lot of efforts in writing the SOP. The most important thing would be to mention how were you able to troubleshoot different problems when you came across them during research.
I would give a 10 out of 10 for this program. They took the best care of almost everything possible and made sure that everything went fine.
So, guys, we hope his experience is very helpful and you all got hands full of info about this internship. Still, if you are in need to ask more questions to Gurudatt, You can contact us and we have a special dreamcatcher program for you! Happy Internship Hunting!!
