Exploring the world of life science research

An interview with the founder of Victoria College’s Life Science Research Seminars

How did you go about planning the seminars and choosing these specific topics?

Since Fall 2022, Victoria College has been hosting a set of seminars focused on introducing undergraduate life science students to the expansive world of research available to them. The seminars have included topics such as “dissecting a successful application,” “a deep dive into graduate programs,” and “making connections.” I had the opportunity to sit down with Alex Bogatch—a fifth-year student studying biochemistry and molecular genetics and microbiology—who is the host and founder of the Life Science Research Seminars.

The Strand: When did the idea of the seminars start?

Alex Bogatch: I’ve been working in a lab for four years … it's unfortunate how much you learn about being in a lab while you're in a lab and how a lot of that information could be important for people who want to apply to a lot because a lot of it's just chance. That whole idea of getting your foot into the door is a very random process and I thought that there were definitely things that we could be telling undergraduate students to be helping them out and guiding them through the process.

Why did you want to do this?

Being in the life sciences as an undergraduate student, I feel like you're sold this whole idea that if you want to be successful, you have to go to medical school, or you have to pursue something that is very medical focused. But if you want to live a fulfilling life in biology, chemistry … there are so many other pathways open to you, like going into research, so I wanted to create this seminar series so that we could showcase what research is for people. A specific type of person is great for medical school. A specific type of person is also great for research, but I just wanted to have that wealth of information available for students.

The seminar series is broken down into five different events, all trying to encapsulate the main topics of research life as an undergraduate student, and particularly as an undergrad who wants to pursue graduate school. Think of it as if you're starting with a blank slate. You have a first-year undergraduate student in the life sciences, and they've never been told anything about research. We first introduced them to senior undergraduate students who have done research being like, these are the types of things that you could be doing throughout your bachelor's. You gain a little bit of interest in researching, so we talk about the opportunities, we then talk about how to write a good application. And like bing, bang, boom, hopefully, you, you get your research opportunity. You try it out. And if you think that this is the right career path for you, then we start talking about graduate school. It should be a start to finish, all the information that you need, assuming you start as a first-year undergraduate student all the way to a fourth-year undergraduate student and giving you the information that you need to be successful. It definitely had to be a series of events. You can't cover all of this in one event.

What do you hope students will get out of this experience?

We’re giving you a set of resources, a set of presentations, and guest speaker networking opportunities so that you're good to go on your own. We try to give you links, we try to direct you to where exactly you need to be asking stuff because 90 percent of the issues are just finding where these applications are and not so much writing them. We try to break down all the barriers that may come for someone who wants to get into life science research, and hopefully they can apply [the information we give them] afterwards.

What is one piece of advice that you’ve learned in your undergrad that you want to share with students interested in research?

There are so many great research opportunities available and a lot of great research opportunities specifically available for undergraduate students that when we think about it being like a number issue like supply and demand, I'm sure anyone who really wants to get into research will get into research because there are just so many opportunities always available. And so, you don't want to be rejected, not because it was a number competition thing, but rather because you just wrote something silly or you didn't get it checked by someone else, or you didn't know the formatting of it.

More information on the Life Science Research Seminars can be found on their Instagram, @victorialsrs. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.