By Jade Riopelle, Postbac, Virus Ecology Section, Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML)
I started my postbac in the fall of 2021, right after graduating with my Bachelor of Science in Human Biology from Stanford. Prior to joining the NIH, I conducted computational research, but had never tried wet lab research. With my undergrad education significantly disrupted by the pandemic, I wanted to gain more experience, both in science and in life, before starting medical school. I joined the Virus Ecology Section (VES) to challenge myself scientifically and hoped that moving to RML would allow me to experience living somewhere very different from what I was used to, and I’ve been proven correct so far!
In VES, we study the factors underlying the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, focusing especially on diseases with pandemic potential. If that sounds broad, that’s because it is – one of my favorite things about my lab is how interdisciplinary it is. My main project has been characterizing the intestinal microbiome of a colony of captive Artibeus jamaicensis bats. The idea behind this is that bats are thought to be the reservoir hosts of several viruses that are highly pathogenic in other mammalian species, but do not cause severe disease in bats. In conjunction with a diverse team that includes the Research Technologies Branch and our metabolomics expert, Dr. Benji Schwarz, I’ve established a novel pipeline to characterize the microbiome and the associated intestinal metabolome in a few cohorts of bats.
Our long-term goal is to identify factors in the microbiome that might contribute to immune tolerance and possibly use the microbiome as a predictor of disease states in bats. This would help elucidate virus-host interactions in bats, and the ability to predict infection status from the intestinal microbiome would open many doors to improving our knowledge of infection dynamics in bat populations. In turn, we could use that information to design better strategies for preventing spillover and human infection. Of course, this is all in the distant future, but it’s been exciting to feel as though I’m working on tools that might someday prevent the next pandemic.
Beyond the lab, I’ve also enjoyed the experience of living in a tight-knit community. I’ve especially appreciated all the opportunities I’ve had to get involved in Hamilton, which has allowed me to form relationships outside of just my fellow lab members. With options as diverse as volunteering with hospice patients, adult ballet classes, book clubs at our local bookstore, and all the outdoor recreational activities I could ever want, I’ve been surprised by how much there is to do here.
Though I’ll certainly miss RML when I leave, I feel as though I’ve been well-prepared for my next career step, which is an MD/MPH program. I haven’t yet decided where I’ll be matriculating in the fall, but I’ll be drawing on the knowledge, skills, and mentors I’ve gained at RML as I enter medical school and beyond.