<p>There's this bio-medical research internship that I really want to do. It looks fun and I get good laboratory experience. But I'm completely nervous about the whole thing. I tend to mess up on labs in school so I'm afraid I'll screw up something really important if I do enroll in the internship. If any of you guys know anything about it: </p>
<p>Do you need to be "super-smart" in science and in math?
Also any general information about it.</p>
<p>I did biomed research in the lab for two summers so I’ll relate my experience. The only background I had was in AP Bio and AP Chemistry entering. The lab I was in focused specifically on breast cancer. Given my background, I was able to understand the general concept except it can be difficult to understand the different pathways denoted by a jumble of letters/numbers. The publications in my area of research were very difficult for me to understand given my limited knowledge. For the lab stuff, you’ll want to know the purpose of what you’re doing rather than blindly running procedures. It’s tough at first but once you get a handle of the protocols it becomes second nature. Precision is very important. Measurements and timings must be pretty close to protocol. A lot of the stuff, at least what I looked at involves pipetting. At first one can expect to be screwing up, but after some experience it becomes a lot easier. Oh and biochem lab stuff is not really the same as AP Bio/Chem labs. The closest is the AP Bio Gel electrophoresis lab and that’s generally considered an easier protocol. So yeah, you don’t need to be smart but you need to be organized and have an understanding of what you’re doing. Most protocols can be easily re-done so if you mess up, you can always re-do it.</p>
<p>@dblazer Thanks. It just sounded very intimidating lol.</p>
<p>Depends on exactly what program you are talking about? [Some include both college students and high school students, others don’t. Which program are you specifically talking about?]</p>
<p>@Doctarini High School program</p>
<p>if i may ask, what internship is this called.</p>
<p>It’s called the Werner H. Kristen Student Intern Program.</p>