Kelly Baines

Graduate Student PhD Candidate

Contact Info

kbaines5@uwo.ca

What are you currently working on?

“I'm in the process of wrapping up my PhD. I will be defending in three weeks. So, I'm not actively in the lab working on anything at the moment. To summarize my research, I looked at the role of the maternal immune system in regulating placental development and fetal development. I work primarily with a rodent model of inflammation.Some days are a lot more hecticin terms of collecting tissue, other days we're giving the pro-inflammatory treatment. Once the tissue is collected, that's when we do our analysis, which is more labor intensive. That includes techniques like RNA sequencing and qPCR, to quantify RNA levels and gene expression. I do a lot of immunohistochemistry, which is tissue sectioning and antibody staining, and Western blots to quantify protein levels within the tissue. I have also recorded wet weights, which is measuring organ and fetal sizes on the benchtop. I've also cultured rat trophoblast stem cells and neural precursor cellsby doing isolations of cells from fetal brains. It is kind of intense, but it's really neat.”

What are some of your future goalsfrom here?

“My immediate goals are to finish my PhD - I'd like to finish up a couple of things with my project here. But I think I am leaving academia and pursuing an industry-based position. That's definitely a personal choice. I think that both have their pros and both have their cons. The opportunities in industry are quite different and broader than in research. There's not a lot of opportunity to try different roles within academia. Whereas within industry I'm applying very broadly. I've applied for scientific liaison positions, sales positions, research scientist positions. There are so many different opportunities out there and things that you don't even realize exist until you start digging.”

“You can do an experiment 10 times and not have it work. The one time that it does, you get this unique rush that people love.”

What are key steps you took that you would advise to others?

“Getting involved and not limiting yourself is important. In my undergrad, I didn't do a thesis project. So, I didn't really have much research experience. When interviewing, I had to be really forward about that and let them know that most of my experience was through lab-based courses. What I did have the opportunity to do, I loved. If you are in a program that doesn't require a thesis, it’s important to try getting some sort of experience like volunteering in a lab, because research is hard. There's a lot of failure in research and that can be hard to handle. You can do an experiment10 times andnot have itwork. Thatone time that it does, you get this unique rush that people love. I think diversifying yourself is valuable. If you are involved in a biology or a chemistry program, try the other side of things and don't limit yourself to what you know. There are amazing labs out there that could be in a different department but could still hold your interest and create new ones as well. ”

What brought you to research in anatomy and cell biology?

“For me, it's this inherent love of biology, and trying to understand why things are the way they are and why they go wrong.Problemsolving and puzzles have always beensomething that I've loved. In terms of science, it's just something that I was always drawn to. I ended up in this department and in my lab becauseitwas a good fit. Whenyou're trying to figure out where you want to go for grad school, it's important to find a lab and a supervisor you like. That’s how I ended up in Dr. Renaud’slab with a project I loved.At the time that I was looking for grad schools, the department was doing in-person recruitment events. I had actually met Dr. Allan earlier at a breast cancer fundraising event and she told me to come to the event and meet other researchers.I got to interview with manydifferent facultymembersand see what their projects were like.That’s when I met my supervisor, and I brought some information forward to him about the project that I thought we should try. From there, the pieces just kind of fell together.”

“There’s always something that can be explored or learned and applied to your research.”

What is your favourite thing about research?

“It’s the opportunity to keep learning and keep exploring a topic. I've very often fallen down the research rabbit hole because something piques my interest. This can sometimes be relentless. There’s always something that can be explored or learned and applied to your research. There are so many new techniques coming out that continue to make research really interesting and fun. The other bit would be the positive feeling you get from an experiment working or trying something for the first time and having it be successful. It’s an unparalleled feeling that you get from that kind of success.”