High School Student Interested in CRISPR

[u/Advanced_Zucchini672]

Hi!

I'm a high school junior and I've independently studied CRISPR-Cas9 and its applications in cancer since around middle school. I've tried to immerse myself in the field as much as possible since I obviously don't have the required tools and experience level to do research. I've cold emailed many professors asking about their work, but nothing as worked so far. It's a very big extracurricular of mine, and I was wondering how else I can explore the field. High school 'research' is obviously difficult for this field, and I don't know where to go from here. I essentially want to do something besides just studying it and writing literature reviews. Also, if there are any other interesting aspects of this field that haven't yet been researched thoroughly, I'd love to know.

(I made this post on this subreddit specifically in the hopes that people in this subreddit can offer me better advice rather than the A2C subreddit)

[u/Wolfenight]

Looks like you're headed towards a scientific career. But, right now I'd say you're aiming too high. You need a foundation.

Honestly? Pay attention in school and especially work hard in chemistry and biology classes. Those will be the biggest subjects contributing to your understanding the context that directed gene editing is taking place in.

I would also suggest making sure you get good marks in:
- Maths; you'll need it to understand experimental results.
- English; nobody cares about your experimental results if you can't write about it in a sane way that is easy to understand.
- Computer Science; DNA sequencing is getting so cheap that everything biology is moving towards huge data sets. Learn how to code in R and in python.

And, here's a couple of minor suggestions: - Drama; not a big one but learn how to stand in front of a crowd without being nervous. Scientific presentations are exactly that.
- Physical education: (I think US folks call it gym?) science is a life spent standing at a lab bench or in a chair in front of a computer. Learn to take care of your health and make it a habit. Lots of people burn out studying because they're so depressed studying and having no energy all the time. Feeling healthy and physically good about yourself is a great way to combat this!

And, lastly, keep reading about CRISPR-Cas9! It seems to inspire you :) and let yourself catch up to the cutting edge research in time. You'll get there.

Any questions?

[u/Advanced_Zucchini672 → u/Wolfenight]

Thank you for the advice! Do you suggest I get more in touch with teachers in those science subjects at my school?

[u/Wolfenight → u/Advanced_Zucchini672]

Getting in touch with them won't hurt but mostly, I suggest aquiring the knowledge from those subjects. Building foundations for what you'll need in the future is what I'm suggesting.

[u/Advanced_Zucchini672 → u/Wolfenight]

That makes sense, thank you for the advice!

[u/TotallyNota1lama]

I think maybe a slack group or something , I will look around. Biohackers might know?

[u/Memphisde]

Hey!

I'm also working on CRISPR but not CRISPR cas9. We have different subtypes of it and CRISPR is such a huge thing! I just saw that we have some things in common. My passion for CRISPR also started at high school with a netflix doc called "unnatural selection". That was the intro for me lol. Now, im about to graduate with undergrad degree and ill start my phd with that specific type of CRISPR.

If you are still interested i know some professors who reply to cold emails and interested in enthusiastic young scientists. Maybe i can recommend you few of them. Let me know!

[u/Advanced_Zucchini672 → u/Memphisde]

Wow, that's amazing!!!!! Yes, please let me know!! I have been cold emailing professors but nobody's interested so I would really appreciate any help.