Nowadays, internships can be found with just a quick Google search; at least that’s what happened to senior Ankitha Raman.

Raman interned at a biotech company called Bio-Techne after sending in her résumé. “It was my first real job other than being self-employed,” she said. “I’ve taken the biotech elective at school, and I started a biotech club at Gunn. So it was nice to be in the workplace and see how real biotech companies run.’’

Even though Raman is just a high schooler, she was able to get hands-on experience. “In the beginning, I got to do organizational and inventory tasks like sorting things, and then I got to shadow some other actual lab scientists,’’ she said. “Then, in July, I got to do my own miniature project where I got to stain human liver tissue samples and evaluate the RNA content of the tissues.’’

Upon completion of the internship, Raman learned a lot in a real company lab. “I liked the independence I got because I had the freedom to learn at my own pace, and no one was micro-managing me or pushing me to do anything,” she said. “I was at my own will to go and ask for help and shadow other scientists.’’

Though the internship was just for the summer, Raman plans on doing more lab work at businesses in the future. “I think it’d be nice to go to other biotech companies to see what they’re doing because the biotech field is really extensive, so every place has its own specialty and does different kinds of work,” she said.