Beril Ozhan is an upcoming junior at Interlake High School. She has always been interested in science related fields of study, especially biology and biochemistry. Her interest in these particular studies inspired her to pursue the internship opportunity at ISB.
ISB has taught Beril the importance of collaboration, teamwork and having strong relations with coworkers and others around you. In the lab, she works with her partner Alina Chandra and mentors Leah Rommereim and Naeha Subramanian to engineer expression constructs for nod like receptors, the family of innate sensors in the body. Here is more information about their project: Engineering Expression Constructs for NLRs.
As well as being a part of ISB this summer, Beril got the chance to be even more involved in the community as a camp counselor for children with muscular dystrophy. Her love for children influenced her decision to be apart of the Muscular Dystrophy Assoc. and she will continue having memorable memories with the campers every year. Besides spending time with the children apart of MDA, she teaches the Turkish language to kids at American Turkish Assoc. WA preschool on the weekend. She strives to make an impact on their learning by making sure they are well prepared for both Turkish and American school education. She is proud of her Turkish culture and represents this passion by being the Masters of Ceremonies for Turkfest, as well as International Children’s Friendship Festival. One of her favorite hobbies is Turkish folk dancing, which she has been doing with the Anadolu Youth Dancers since 2009 both nationally and internationally at multiple festivals.
At school, she is a writer for her schools’ paper and is a leader of many projects for National Art Honor Society. She is co-captain for the school’s tennis team and and is on the junior varsity basketball team. She has always loved music and instruments which caused her to become apart of her schools’ Sinfonia orchestra as section leader.
Since ISB was Beril’s first on hands lab opportunity, she hopes to expand her learning to other scientific experiences in the upcoming years. In the future, she hopes to find a career path that combines her love for biology with patient care and interaction. Her aspirations are to make a positive impact on people’s physical and emotional wellbeing through science. She wants to use what she’s learned from the internship to spread positive changes to the people around her and is now more excited to jump into additional scientific lab opportunities. Overall, she is very grateful to have such a wonderful experience with her mentors and fellow interns. She learned new skills in the lab and out of the lab through reading scientific papers, approach learning about the coding system R studio and improving her presentation skills through speeches in front of her peers and fellow scientists. In the future, she knows that she wants to pursue a career in the biomedical field!
Contact Info:
email: berilozhan@hotmail.com