Working at Medtronic was an experience and a half—conducting research with state of the art equipment, and interacting with scientists.

By Tomefa Asempa ’11
Accra, Ghana
Biology

Internship opportunities are bountiful at Macalester, and I have been privileged to work with three great organizations: Tuskegee University, University of Arizona, and most recently, Medtronic Corporation, which is located in Minneapolis, 10 minutes from campus.

Macalester professors and the Science and Research Office have extensive networking leverage, and Macalester’s location in the Twin Cities provides easy access to companies such as biotech leader Medtronic. My project placed me with a highly technical, but easily approachable, team that was investigating the role of hormones in possible future therapies. Working there was an experience and a half—conducting research with state of the art equipment, and interacting with scientists and the other 100+ interns.

Most fulfilling was the independence to design and implement my experiments in which I explored the role of hormones on a cellular scale. My work could eventually contribute to therapies for many heart-related diseases. The project relied heavily on human physiology, but I found myself well prepared by my Cell Biology and Human Physiology courses at Macalester. In fact, I realized that the biology program at Mac has embedded in it crucial concepts that are valuable in many areas of research and industry, including pharmacy school, my intended future focus.

October 4 2010

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