Vaishali Todi, genetics, development and cell biology graduate student, GDCB Associate Professor Mohan Gupta's lab, discusses the internship she participated in during summer 2023 at Elanco in the Indianapolis area. 

Q. Tell us briefly about the company you worked for and your role in your internship.

A. Elanco is an animal pharma company; they develop and manufacture therapeutics for both farm animals as well as pets. They used to be a subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, but they are now starting out on their own. I was a R&D intern with the Cell Line Development group where my role was to genetically engineer cells to produce recombinant proteins of interest. 

Q. What drew you to apply for this internship?

A. As I get closer to graduation and started thinking about what I wanted to do after, I realized I had no idea what it is like outside of the university setting and wanted to explore some options. Doing a three-month internship seemed to be the most feasible option to try out something non-academic. 

Q. Discuss your job duties.

A. I was mostly involved in wet lab work, which included mammalian cell culture, a lot of protein work like purifications and western blots and developing assays to check for their expression patterns.

Q. What did a typical day look like for you during your internship?

A. I spent most of my time working in the lab. Apart from that, I had some group meetings to attend and some one-on-ones with people in the company. Documentation of your research was an important part of the process. In addition to that, there were various professional development activities organized for the interns, which kept us actively involved. 

Q. What did you learn in your internship that will help prepare you for your future career?

A. Communication is the most important learning I'll be taking away from my internship. Talking to as many people as possible and getting a new perspective on things, whether it's through collaboration on your projects or just as advice or even sharing similar experiences. The more connections you make, the more it helps in the future. 

Q. What was the best part of your internship experience?

A. My team. The cell line development group was a small one of four people, including me, and it was a wonderful experience sharing a space with them! They were so understanding, welcoming and patient with me that I felt just at home from the very first day. 

Q. How do you believe your experience at Iowa State prepared you for this experience?

A. Firstly, my lab. Knowing that I had the choice to explore my options was a big, positive reinforcement and the skills I picked up over the years. In addition to that, my role in various departmental organizations gave me the opportunity to connect with people and also helped me develop both professionally and personally as an individual.   

Q. Do you have any advice to offer other students seeking an internship?

A. Just don't be scared to try out new things, you never know where you might end up!