The 2025 Moving Targets Symposium was honestly such a cool way to wrap everything up. The day was packed with speakers from different areas of medicine and research, and it was really interesting hearing about how many different paths people took to get where they are now. I also enjoyed walking around and listening to others talk about their work and present their posters.
When it was finally time for the poster session, we all stood next to our posters and waited for people to come by. Even though I had practiced my explanation many times and fully understood every step of the project, I was still a little nervous at first. It felt different explaining months of work to people who had never seen the project before. But once the first few people stopped and started asking questions, that nervous feeling slowly went away. I ended up talking almost nonstop, explaining the background, the methods, the setbacks, and the results over and over again to different people. By the end of the session, my voice was basically gone, but in the best way possible.
What made the experience really special was how interested people were in the research. Some asked really thoughtful questions and others wanted to know more about the techniques. The judges were really impressed that we were able to get the results in the time we had. Hearing that made me feel proud of the work I had done and how much I had learned over the summer. That recognition meant a lot, especially knowing how many failed gels, retries, and long days went into getting there.
In the end, I was incredibly grateful to find out that I won Best Poster. It felt like such a rewarding moment after all the pressure and uncertainty earlier on, especially when we were not even sure we would have data in time. Huge shoutout to Jeremy for mentoring me throughout the project and always being patient and supportive, and to the Alachkar Lab for giving me the opportunity to be part of this experience in the first place!
