We dive into the world of digital PCR and cancer research with Valeria Rangel, a PhD candidate at UC Irvine. Val shares how her lab is using dPCR to uncover genetic and epigenetic factors driving acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Hispanic populations, while also reflecting on her journey into science and the power of perseverance in research.
Scientific discovery happens in the lab—but it starts with curiosity and determination. In this episode of Absolute Gene-ius, we welcome Valeria Rangel, a PhD candidate at the University of California Irvine, who shares her research on acute lymphoblastic leukemia and the innovative ways digital PCR is helping uncover genetic patterns linked to cancer in Hispanic populations.
Val’s work focuses on Philadelphia chromosome-like (Ph-like) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. She explains how her lab uses digital PCR to detect mutations with high precision, identify risk factors in certain populations, and even validate findings using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. Through her research, Val sheds light on the role of SNPs, methylation patterns, and translocations in leukemia progression—demonstrating how digital PCR is transforming the way we approach cancer research.
Beyond the science, Val takes us on her personal journey, from struggling to break into research due to financial barriers to finding her passion in oncology. In this episode’s Career Corner, she shares valuable advice for aspiring scientists, tips for landing research opportunities, and some of her most hilarious and humbling lab moments (yes, she has broken multiple pipettes).
Visit the Absolute Gene-ius pageto learn more about the guests, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System.
Jordan Ruggieri 00:00
Today on the podcast, we're amplifying your knowledge about dPCR. I feel like I'm like a disc jockey.
Jordan Ruggieri 00:19
Welcome to Absolute Gene-ius, a podcast series from Thermo Fisher Scientific. I'm Jordan Ruggeri.
Christina Bouwens 00:25
And I'm Christina Bouwens and today we're diving into the fascinating world of cancer research with Valeria Rangel.
Jordan Ruggieri 00:31
Val is a PhD candidate at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, where she studies a subset of acute lymphoblastic leukemia that disproportionately affects those with Latin American ancestry. We loved hearing about her scientific journey and the innovative ways that she uses dPCR in her lab, and we're excited to share the conversation with you today. Thanks for joining us.
Jordan Ruggieri 00:56
Valeria is great to have you on the Absolute Gene-ius podcast. We are super thrilled you are here. Could you maybe just give us a brief introduction and background how you became interested in the field of oncology research and into CRISPR Cas-9?
Valeria Rangel 01:12
Yeah, of course. No. Thank you guys so much for having me here. And my name is Valeria, but a lot of my colleagues and my friends here call me Val. So, yeah, so I actually graduated from Arizona State University in 2019 with a bachelor's in biological sciences. And at the time, I was actually still working part time at Sephora but was really eager to dive into the world of scientific research. I have always been passionate about science, but as an undergrad, I never really had the opportunity to participate in research, particularly in labs at ASU. Typically, most undergrad research opportunities, especially at universities like ASU, are not paid. So because I still had to pay for my rent and living expenses, I didn't really get a chance to be a part of that opportunity. And that lack of experience actually made it really difficult for me to apply for jobs post undergrad. So I think overall, I must have applied to over 70 different positions while I was looking after I graduated. And out of those, I actually only got like three interviews. And luckily, one of those was with my current PI, Dr. Nicholas Pannunzio, and you know, he was one of the few people that believed in me enough to give me an opportunity to be a part of a scientific community here at UCI.
Christina Bouwens 02:28
That's amazing. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the research group at UCI. I know we visited a couple of years ago to learn more about what you're doing with dPCR, but I thought it had, your group specifically, has a really cool story. So talk a little bit about what you do in the research there?
Valeria Rangel 02:43
Here at UCI, we have a very collaborative and supportive scientific community. Our lab specifically focuses primarily on rare hematological malignancies, and my work the last couple of years has focused on unraveling the genetic and epigenetic factors driving a subset of blood cancer called Philadelphia chromosome-like B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which I know is a mouthful, so for short, we call it Ph-like ALL. This particular subtype of cancer disproportionately affects Hispanics, particularly those with Latin American ancestry. Our recent Nature Communication findings pretty much showed that by applying digital PCR assays to these different acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines as well as genetic material, we were able to find that increased levels of activation induced cytidine deaminase, which is an enzyme that's expressed particularly in B cells. This particular enzyme can drive acute lymphoblastic leukemia health disparities in these Latin American populations. So just a little bit of a snippet of, you know what, what the research entailed with that specific publication. But you know, if you guys would like to take a read, I would greatly appreciate it.
Jordan Ruggieri 03:54
That's amazing. I have a, I have a million, a million questions. Can you, can you give a little bit of background on what Ph-like ALL is like? What, how does it, how does it actually impact a subject or a person?
Valeria Rangel 04:08
So with Ph-like ALL specifically, there are various types of genetic alterations that can activate different cytokine or kinase signaling that can lead to this particular subtype of cancer. So for the research that we do, specifically the research that I focus on, there's a very particular chromosomal rearrangement that happens between the CRLF2 locus and IGH that can lead to this rare subtype of ALL, non SPh-like. We particularly study this translocation because it affects, it's been known to affect different Hispanic and Latino populations.
Christina Bouwens 04:47
One, one thing that's really interesting, so I actually, I also come from a background in cancer research. I was doing colorectal cancer research back when I was working in the lab, and we were often looking for variants that come up in a tumor, post tumor, right. But what you're talking about is actually screening for germline variants, right? You're actually looking to see what can predispose people before the onset of cancer? Is that accurate, or are you a mix of both?
Valeria Rangel 05:14
We know for a fact that it's not a germline mutation. We believe that there could be some sort of somatic mutations that could be linked to the disparity, linked to the cancer itself. Currently, there have been studies that show mutations within the GATA3 genes, specifically in these Hispanic and Latinos that are diagnosed with pH-like ALL, this particular SNPs have actually been linked to Native American ancestry, so we believe that there may be a link within ethnic-specific SNPs, ancestry linkage and predisposition to this particular subtype. We started off with three different, oh, I guess in the paper, specifically used two different acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines that we have in the lab. So we extracted genomic DNA from those cell lines and I think there were also some experiments that we threw in there that, you know, had isolated RNA qPCR data. We were using a peripheral blood there were some, you know, samples that we would get that we would be able to extract a genomic material as well as RNA.
Jordan Ruggieri 06:15
You talked a little bit about looking at particular SNPs. Can you just give a background for our listeners? What are SNPs and why are they important for your research and to study?
Valeria Rangel 06:26
Yeah, so SNPs, it's just short for single nucleotide polymorphisms, and they're basically different mutations that happen at a single-nucleotide position that vary from person to person. The reason why they're important in our study is because we're trying to pinpoint why exactly this population is predisposed to this cancer, and we believe that a single variant could be enough to make that change or make them predisposed.
Christina Bouwens 06:51
Another question that I have is, you know, I know in the paper, you talk a lot about the importance of detecting mutations early. Can you talk a little bit about why it's so important to detect these mutations early?
Valeria Rangel 07:02
Yeah, absolutely. I think, more than anything, we really want to be able to establish a, an assay that will allow us to detect the mutations before it becomes an aggressive cancer subtype. To be able to really screen these subjects that we know are predisposed to the cancer, and be able to tell them, “Hey, you know what, because you have this specific variant, or because we see that you have increased mutations at the specific site, you may be predisposed to this particular subtype of cancer.” So it's really our way of kind of like catching things early before they become anything serious. It's also could be a way to test subjects that are currently in remission to make sure that there haven't been any progressions with the cancer itself.
Jordan Ruggieri 07:46
Are there any unique challenges to studying pH-like ALL in using the sample types that you mentioned, or even within your workflows, or any of your technologies that you utilize?
Valeria Rangel 07:59
I would say that one of the biggest challenges with this particular project has been getting subject material that we can use for our particular assays, that we can use for our research. You know, I think over the course of the last four years that we've been really focusing on this project I've been able to get my hands on maybe 10 to 15 different subjects, and I've been able to use that material to extract genomic DNA or genomic material from them.
Christina Bouwens 08:27
We talked kind of about the background of, you know, the research itself. And now, you know, on Absolute Gene-ius, we love to dive into dPCR and, you know, what makes it, you know, useful. Um, but you know, why did you pick dPCR as a tool of choice to help identify these like places of genomic instability?
Valeria Rangel 08:44
Yeah, we started off by doing a type of next generation sequencing, known as amplicon sequencing, on these different subjects, as well as the different cell lines that we had in the lab. However, we quickly realized that, especially with amplicon sequencing, there was no real way of quantifying the events that we were trying to amplify up and look at. So we wanted to find a way where we could really say this is the amount of times that this particular mutation or this particular SNP or variant, is happening at this site. So, we tried various different assays to try and quantify these events. Along with that, was droplet digital PCR. And then we moved on to strictly just digital PCR assays. We really just fell in love with the way that digital PCR allows us to use a very small amount of genomic material into our reactions, be able to load multiple subjects or cell lines onto a single plate and then get results within a matter of hours. I think it's been extremely useful to be able to use one assay to look at one particular location and screen various subjects, screen various cell lines, versus, you know, having to screen or sequence an entire genome and then wait weeks to get those results back.
Christina Bouwens 09:55
Yeah. And another shout out for your paper, because I think it's particularly innovative the way that you study these breakpoints, because it can be really challenging, right. Not all genes break in the same location, so primer design can be kind of tricky to confirm. And we like to say, like, you know, with digital PCR, it's really great if you know what you're looking for. But can you talk a little bit about your drop off probes and how that assay works? Because I thought it was really, really cool reading your paper.
Valeria Rangel 10:17
It's our pride and joy, for sure. I think we it was a lot of optimization in the beginning, trying to figure out exactly what primers will give us the cleanest amplicon. The probes were also a hit or miss in the beginning, but once we got, like, that perfect sequence that worked for us, it's been really just perfect ever since.
Christina Bouwens 10:36
That's awesome. Can you describe briefly, like how a drop off assay would work? Because I know looking at the signal is a little bit different than how you typically look at a digital PCR result.
Valeria Rangel 10:46
What we wanted to achieve with this assay was we wanted to be able to quantify how many times we could get an amplicon to, for lack of a better word, amplify with either both of our or all of our probes annealing perfectly. So we would call that a sort of wild type amplicon, right. Within our particular drop off assay, we designed multiplex assay, so we had four different types of probes that would anneal within the same 300 base pair region that we're amplifying. Three of those probes were designed to anneal to a region where we would expect there to be some sort of mutation or activity by the enzyme that we are interested in looking at here. However, one of those probes was designed to be a control probe per se. So that's the probe that we use to quantify how many amplicons were quote, unquote, wild type. So how many times we would get something that amplified that didn't have any mutation, and then we also use that same probe to be able to quantify how many times that non-CPG control probe binded and how many times the mutation probe dropped off its signal.
Christina Bouwens 11:51
Okay, so the idea is, if you have a mutation or a break point, those initial probes that would be present on a wild type will no longer be able to anneal?
Valeria Rangel 11:58
Exactly.
Christina Bouwens 11:59
And so you would just see no signal, rather than signal for those that had your like variant of interest?
Valeria Rangel 12:06
So yeah, I guess if it was a wild type sequence or a wild type subject or cell line, then we would get both probes binding. So we would have signal from both, for example, the FAM and the HEX probe. Versus if the FAM was supposed to bind to a region where mutation would be expected to happen, and a mutation did occur there, then we would get signals where only the HEX probe binded. So you would have sort of your double population and then your single population with only the HEX that would be indicative of a mutation occurring at the FAM sequence, or FAM site, FAM binding site that inhibited that probe from binding.
Christina Bouwens 12:45
Awesome, and it's all quantitative. So that's great. That's fantastic.
Jordan Ruggieri 12:48
Yeah, that is really interesting. Can you talk a little bit about, do you use any gene editing techniques, like CRISPR Cas-9, in your workflow, and little bit about how that works?
Valeria Rangel 13:01
Yeah so we did use CRISPR Cas-9 methods to validate the assay. It was our sort of proof-of-concept experiment to be able to show to our readers and our audience that, you know, we've tested this out with single guide RNAs, and we can, you know, create a mutation at a specific site and show that the assay is actually sensitive enough to pick up those mutations. So, what we did is we designed several different single guide RNAs that would create a Cas-9 break at either the, one or several of the CPG binding sites. But we introduced a single guide RNA in the paper, you can see these results as well. We're able to detect amplicons for only our non0CPG HEX control probe binded, but not the TAMRA probe. So those would be amplicons were some sort of mutation inhibited the TAMRA probe combining.
Christina Bouwens 13:50
This is amazing. No, honestly, I'm like, I'm so happy we're having you on this is, like, all of the box checks for all my like, super cool science. You guys, you guys, your lab, seriously, does it all.
Jordan Ruggieri 14:01
Was there anything surprising or something unexpected that you found from your study and how you utilized digital PCR?
Valeria Rangel 14:11
We actually did encounter some surprising results with the digital PCR drop off assay that we designed, especially when we started applying it to the different subjects that were introduced or were given to the lab. A lot of these subjects had an initial diagnosis of a different subtype of cancer, so theoretically, we weren't really expecting to see much activity at the site that our particular assay amplified. However, with some of these subjects, we did in fact, see some activity at these sites, and it was activity that was missed with other sequencing methods that we were able to pick up using digital PCR. So I thought that was pretty amazing.
Jordan Ruggieri 14:53
What's next? What are the next steps for your research?
Valeria Rangel 14:57
Currently, we're working on tying in the epigenetic side of things, seeing how methylation may play a role into how this enzyme that's particularly present in B cells is playing a role in the different mutations that are happening at this CRLF2 locus. So I've actually been playing around with designing a digital PCR assay that's specific to bisulfite-converted DNA. So it's been an interesting challenge. It's not the first time that it's been done, but I will say at least the first time that I've seen it done with this particular region. And you can scoot down the amplicon one KB, and it'll be the same challenge. You know, especially when you're dealing with bisulfite-converted DNA. I was dealing with a lot of non-successful or unsuccessful digital PCR runs. I couldn't figure out if you know, it was my primers, my probe, the DNA itself, the quality of the DNA. But finally, I was able to actually design shorter, shorter primers that gave me a shorter amplicon, and was able to get results generated for our cell lines and our subjects. So it was really, really exciting to see, once again, the power that digital PCR has to look at these methylation patterns, and I guess, yeah, just basically being able to apply it to a variety of different things and different methods.
Jordan Ruggieri 16:15
Can you explain what, what is epigenetics? What does, what is the implication of, you know, DNA that's methylated or a nucleotide that's methylated?
Valeria Rangel 16:24
Yeah, so for our particular research project, it's pretty important to see what or how the methylation patterns come into play. Specifically because the enzyme that we focus on, activation induced cytidine deaminase, or AID, it's capable of deaminating both methylated and unmethylated cytosines. So this is done as a way to create antibody diversity within our bodies. It's a natural process that happens. It's how class-switch recombination, somatic hypermutation work or get jump started. However, we believe that with transient activity of AID, in places where it shouldn't be active, it could potentially create more chaos than we would expect, right we could create issues that could lead to these chromosomal translocations forming. So we really want to answer the question, “How does methylation play a role? Do we have highly methylated regions or regions that are not as methylated. Does that play a role in how active this AID enzyme is at these regions, and does that also tie it into how often we get these translocations forming?”
Christina Bouwens 17:29
Jordan took the question right out of my right out of my head, so that was awesome. But I do have another one. I have one more that came because I'm always full ofquestions, and then I promise we'll get into the career chat. So one thing that I think would be really helpful to kind of get your perspective and insight in is like, what are some of the best practices that you use when you're designing some of these complex multiplex assays? You're one of the groups that I think multiplexes the most targets into one. But you know, we've talked to a lot of guys, I'm sure Jordan can agree, who are doing a lot of multiplexing. So I know our listeners would love to hear your best, best practices, tips and tricks?
Valeria Rangel 17:59
I mean, I will say that for our most of our assays, we try to design both the primers and the probes to have similar melting temperatures. So then that way, we don't really have to mess much with the annealing temperature once we move into the digital PCR aspect of things. I usually do test the primers by themselves using regular PCR, just to make sure I'm not getting any nonspecific annealing elsewhere in the genome. But yeah, I think once that's settled with regular PCR, and I know that I'm only getting one product at a specific temperature, I'll kind of move into digital PCR and use a similar annealing temp there. What has really helped me is there are different tools online where you can kind of put in your primer concentration to kind of dictate what the annealing temperature should be. For digital PCR, those primer concentrations and probe concentrations are very different from what you would use in a regular PCR. So making sure that I'm, you know, taking note of what the concentration is, so that way I get, you know, an accurate number from these tools has been pretty important, as far as you know, optimizing the assay using the correct annealing temps and whatnot.
Christina Bouwens 19:13
Taking a quick break from our conversation to tell you about Applied Biosystem’s QuantStudio Absolute Q dPCR system. This instrument enables absolute quantification of your targets without the need for standard curves in only 90 minutes. Digital PCR can be as simple as preparing your samples, loading onto the plate, and running the instrument!
Jordan Ruggieri 19:31
AND, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a suite of dPCR assays for applications like AAV viral titer quantification, liquid biopsy analysis, and wastewater surveillance. And if you can't find what you need, don't worry! We have custom assay solutions to help you out. You can either use our custom dPCR assay tool or seek assistance from our experts who have extensive expertise in assay design. You can learn more at www.thermofisher.com/absoluteq or visit the Absolute Gene-ius webpage. Again that’s www.thermofisher.com/absoluteq or visit the Absolute Gene-ius webpage. The Applied Biosystem’s QuantStudio Absolute Q dPCR system is for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.
Christina Bouwens 20:17
And now back to our guest.
Jordan Ruggieri 20:21
All right, hopping into the career element of the of the podcast. Val you talked about your some of your background at Arizona State University, but can you give us a little bit of a deeper dive you know about your education and your experience so far?
Valeria Rangel 20:36
Yeah, so, I was born in San Diego, California, but I grew up in Tijuana, Mexico. However, I did cross the border on a daily basis to attend school in the U.S.. It's actually pretty common for children that grow up in border cities such as Tijuana, San Isidro and, you know, other cities like that in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. A lot of these students and these parents, they do this to attain a better-quality education for their children. And I think those early experiences really are what deep rooted that passion in me for education and for just, you know, that hunger for knowledge and now scientific research. I really do think it played a huge role. You know, growing up, both of my parents obviously worked full-time jobs and, you know, having to cross to and from Mexico kind of limited the amount of time that I had to do my homework. Any like, scientific projects that we had early on, like those, you know, science fair projects that they would assign, I would always do those on my own. And I feel like, because I had to do them on my own, it was a lot of trial and error from the very beginning, from the very start. Learning what worked for me to get my homework done before I was able to go home, you know, to my parents, and how to stay on track in school. A lot of trial and error and what worked for me and what worked for my family as well. So I think because science and scientific research is all trial and error. It's really just instilled in me and how to persevere through failure, how to persevere through, you know, times where you're lacking sleep and you have to keep going. You know, don't have the best results, but again, you have to keep pushing forward.
Jordan Ruggieri 22:11
It's amazing. Is science always what you wanted to get into initially or, or did you have a kind of different pathway in mind? Especially as you started college, was there, was there a different pathway you thought you might have ended up in?
Valeria Rangel 22:24
I really have to say that I think science has always really been it. When I was younger, I, you know, thought about maybe teaching and, you know, mentoring is something that I'm very passionate about now, so I feel like that's kind of stuck with me a little bit. But from high school all the way through college, I've always been passionate about science, it's always been my favorite subject. For a while, there was actually in pre-med while I was an undergraduate student, I was on that pre-med track, but kind of steered over more towards the scientific research side of things and you know, the rest is history.
Jordan Ruggieri 22:54
Awesome. And you mentioned mentoring as well. Did you have any mentors along the way? And how do they currently or how did they impact your career?
Valeria Rangel 23:04
I think people with children always say it takes a village, but I think that's the case for you know, anything and anyone. You know, it's hard to make it out here by yourself. I think it takes having incredible mentors and people to look up to in order to push forward and persevere. I, I've had many people to thank for my success and, you know, for getting me to where I'm at today. From you know, teachers that I had in high school to, you know now my PI, uh, Nick, he's, he's been truly amazing having just people that believe in you. It just makes the biggest difference.
Jordan Ruggieri 23:40
Val, you mentioned that not having as much undergraduate research experience would pose some challenges for you. Or do you have any advice for undergraduate students that might think that science or research could lead to a career path for them? Or you know, any learnings from that experience?
Valeria Rangel 24:00
Yeah, I feel that the biggest challenge for me, particularly was the fact that I, you know, was trying to help my parents out with paying for my rent. I was out of state, so no, I had to rent out an apartment, and I had the expenses of, you know, buying my own groceries and all that. And unfortunately, to my knowledge, most of these undergraduate research positions are unpaid. You do get some class credit in some universities, but for the most part, unless it's like a summer position like a paid summer position, most of them will be unpaid during the semester or the quarter. So, it is challenging for students like myself at the time who have to work more than one job, you know, to stay afloat. But I will say I think if I would do anything differently, I think I would, you know, try my best to maybe rack more hours at my job during the weekends, and then look for labs that gave me the opportunity to volunteer or do research during those like blocks between my class schedule, for example. So a block where I know I couldn't, for example, work a two-hour shift, but I could show up to a lab for those two hours and, you know, learn new techniques from the current graduate students in those labs. So I think it's possible, you know, it's what a lot of our undergraduates do now. They come in during their blocks in between classes, you know, they help us out with several things in the lab, and then they go, you know, finish up their classes for the day. And some of them are able to balance that along with a part time job.
Jordan Ruggieri 25:32
As a follow up to that, you know, how can undergrads get research experience? Is it as simple as knocking on lab doors and asking for the PI or should they maybe talk to their department? Or what advice would you have for anyone that might be looking to get into a lab?
Valeria Rangel 25:49
Yeah, it's a really great question, and I think it varies from university to university. Here at UCI, I know that there's a specific program or sort of class that you can sign up for. It's called Bio 199 and it puts you in contact with different professors or labs that are looking for undergraduate researchers. And I think from there, you can email those principal investigators directly and ask for an open position or an opportunity. When I was at ASU, I was just emailing PIs directly, asking if they have some sort of opening, or if they were interested in taking on any undergraduate researchers. It really just depends. I think if you just go to the PI directly, they can also direct you towards, “Hey. You know what? If you sign up for this particular course and then reach back out to me we can make something work.” So I think just, you know, being out there, not being afraid to reach out to these faculty, even current graduate students, you know, they could go back to their PI and let them know, “Hey, I have somebody reach out to me that you know, is possibly interested in doing some undergrad research here in the lab.” so.
Jordan Ruggieri 26:55
Any piece of advice for people that are just starting out, maybe their scientific career, or, you know, new to the field?
Valeria Rangel 27:04
Oh, that's a really good question. I don't know I feel like it, it's kind of corny, kind of cheesy, but I really do feel like the phrase, “there's always a light at the end of the tunnel” is something that may not always feel true, especially when you're going through graduate school or like some type of Master's or PhD program. There's a lot of failure that comes with, you know, getting your degree, getting through grad school, but I think sticking to your passions and sticking to that goal, knowing that there's going to be a light at the end of the tunnel, knowing that you're working towards something I think it's the most important thing to keep in mind. I try to go into every experiment almost expecting the worst but hoping for the best. So I go into every experiment thinking, “If it works, I have a plan, and if it doesn't, I also have a plan.” But regardless, you have got to keep pushing forward.
Jordan Ruggieri 27:58
Now, what's the line? I think, think it was on MythBusters that failure is always an option when it comes to running an experiment. It's a data point, right?
Valeria Rangel 28:07
Yes, exactly.
Jordan Ruggieri 28:09
That's absolutely amazing. I have two more questions, and you know, if Christina has any too. But did you make any mistakes? Anything that maybe you would change along the way?
Valeria Rangel 28:20
I, at the time, I probably did see them as mistakes. I'm sure. At the time, I beat myself up for it. And, you know, you think could have, would have, should have. But you know, all of those quote, unquote mistakes, all of those failures, are what has led me here. You know, there, there have been points in my life and in my career where I felt like, “Oh my gosh, like, maybe this isn't meant for me. Maybe this is a sign to, like, veer to a different career path.” But it's really all of those adversities that you face that make you not only a stronger scientist, but that really make it concrete that you do belong in the field, and that you do, you know, belong where you're at, and without those mistakes, without those failures, I definitely wouldn't be where I am. So, no, there isn't anything I would change.
Christina Bouwens 29:06
I love that. It's like, it's like success is built on not being really afraid of failure, because they're all just learning opportunities. I think that's such, such an insightful career corner. I really love it.
Valeria Rangel 29:15
Oh thank you. Yeah. I feel like, you know, it takes a while to get here. I think, like I said in the moment, you're like, “Oh, man, I should have done this. I could have done that differently.” But once you get to the end of it, you look back and you're like, that's why it happened that way.
Jordan Ruggieri 29:29
100% agree. All right, we asked this is, this is probably the best question of the of the entire podcast. It's a two-parter, and we ask it of everybody who's on the podcast.
Valeria Rangel 29:42
I'm scared.
Jordan Ruggieri 29:46
What was your most embarrassing lab moment and what was your proudest lab moment? We've gone the gambit here from things blowing up to dying fingers white, to,
Valeria Rangel 30:03
There's a we have hiccups every day, definitely. But I would say, and I can say this, I can say this on this podcast, because my PI knows about it, but I've broken two pipettemen. And I've also managed to break a fridge door while opening it. It's like this running joke in the lab that I'm over here, She-Hulk, breaking everything, every piece of equipment. But no, yeah, I mean, it was the funniest thing with the pipettes. Like, I literally just went in to grab a pipette, and it just broke in half. The bottom part of the pipetteman just snapped in half. And the second time it happened, it was the same scenario where I was reaching for a pipette, it snapped in half, and there was somebody that was actually teaching me how to load a qPCR plate. They were just watching me do that. And of course, it was while somebody was watching me that I reach for the pipette and the whole thing just breaks in half. That was great. And then with the fridge door, I think I was also mentoring a student, an undergrad student in our lab. And I was like, yeah, like, let me just go reach for my complete media here. And I grabbed the fridge door. The handle just comes right off, but the fridge stays closed. Just look at it. I'm like, “I promise I don't have any hidden strength.” Oh my gosh, it's good times.
Jordan Ruggieri 31:22
That's hilarious. And what about your proudest lab moment?
Valeria Rangel 31:27
I think that one's harder than the embarrassing. I don't think I can pinpoint, like, an exact experiment, but I will say, like anytime that I've been at a specific assay or experiment that has been failing and failing and failing, and I finally get it to work. Those little A-ha moments are, while they're really just amazing. And I think that high that you get from that successful experiment is just enough to keep you pushing forward through the rest of the month, the rest of the quarter. So yeah, I think those are the moments where I feel the proudest, where I know that I've put in the work, I've put in the time, and I've been able to figure something out.
Christina Bouwens 32:03
Val, it's been so, so great to have you on. I thought this was such a great discussion about, you know, dPCR and cancer research and some really unique and creative assay design. So it was, it was absolutely fantastic to talk to you today.
Valeria Rangel 32:16
Thank you so much, Christina and Jordan. It's been a pleasure being here on your podcast. I really appreciate the opportunity.
Jordan Ruggieri 32:24
That was Valeria Rangel, PhD candidate at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. With more great conversations around the corner and upcoming episodes, stay curious, and we'll see you next time. This episode of Absolute Gene-ius was produced by Sarah Briganti, Matt Ferris and Matthew Stock.