Life Sciences & Genomics Division Diversity: Internship Opportunities

Gerardo’s Biotech Rites of Passage

In a continuing partnership with the non-profit education-to-career program Berkeley Biotechnology Education Inc (BBEI), JGI PGF is hosting aspiring biotechnologist Gerardo Ortega in the Library Support group.

Gerardo, a Life Academy (small Oakland High School) graduate, has been working under the guidance of such mentors as Danielle Mihalkanin, Eric Abbott, and Damon Tighe. He spent the first four weeks of his stay working in the Library Support group becoming familiar with such processes as RCA (Rolling Circle Amplification) gels and doing the ABI3730xl “walkthrough,” followed by an emersion in the operations of the MegaBace 4500, learning to load the instrument and determining how buffer concentration influences read lengths. “We have tried a higher concentration buffer than the 1.5x control and saw an increase in lower quality reads. We then repeated the experiment with a lower buffer concentration and will proceed to analyzing the results,” said Gerardo. Enrolled at Laney Community College, Gerardo continues his work at JGI part-time throughout the school year.

“My experience here at the JGI and in the BBEI program have been great,” said Gerardo. “It has really helped me a lot in deciding what I want to study and has helped me towards my future. Now I want to go to into the field of science, and specifically biotechnology.”

Aligned with the goals of BBEI, Gerardo has embarked on a path toward promising biotech career options. For those interested in future mentoring opportunities, contract BBEI Executive Director Debbi Bellush at 510-705-5192 or debbi.bellush.b@bayer.com.


	Gerardo’s Biotech Rites of Passage In a continuing partnership with the non-profit education-to-career program Berkeley Biotechnology Education Inc (BBEI), JGI PGF is hosting aspiring biotechnologist Gerardo Ortega in the Library Support group. Gerardo, a Life Academy (small Oakland High School) graduate, has been working under the guidance of such mentors as Danielle Mihalkanin, Eric Abbott, and Damon Tighe. He spent the first four weeks of his stay working in the Library Support group becoming familiar with such processes as RCA (Rolling Circle Amplification) gels and doing the ABI3730xl “walkthrough,” followed by an emersion in the operations of the MegaBace 4500, learning to load the instrument and determining how buffer concentration influences read lengths. “We have tried a higher concentration buffer than the 1.5x control and saw an increase in lower quality reads. We then repeated the experiment with a lower buffer concentration and will proceed to analyzing the results,” said Gerardo. Enrolled at Laney Community College, Gerardo continues his work at JGI part-time throughout the school year. “My experience here at the JGI and in the BBEI program have been great,” said Gerardo. “It has really helped me a lot in deciding what I want to study and has helped me towards my future. Now I want to go to into the field of science, and specifically biotechnology.” Aligned with the goals of BBEI, Gerardo has embarked on a path toward promising biotech career options. For those interested in future mentoring opportunities, contract BBEI Executive Director Debbi Bellush at 510-705-5192 or debbi.bellush.b@bayer.com.