Mark D’AlesioSenior | Biology & Italian For the past two summers, I’ve been working at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals right outside New York City. I do lab-based research involving disorders of the connective tissue. Before I started this internship program, I had very minimal lab experience. Regeneron was a perfect choice for me because, in spite of my lack of previous experience, everyone there is willing to help me grow as a scientist. My manager in particular – Dr. Silvia Smaldone – would spend hours on some days walking me through procedures and concepts to make sure that I had a strong foundational understanding of what I was doing. She never saw this as an inconvenience or as something dragging her away from her own work. She genuinely wanted to help me learn and develop into an independent scientist. Thanks to her help, I was able to lead several projects on my own and contribute to her research. The environment at Regeneron is truly something else. Regeneron does a great job at incorporating their student interns into the company. The summer is full of events designed to make us feel like more than just undergrad research assistants: we attend and present at department meetings, sit in on guest lecture events, and have many fun social events with the rest of the company! My favorite of these events is the “B&B,” or “Beer and BS.” If you’re 21, you’re invited to drink beer, watch scientists give presentations on their work, and rip them apart (aka be critical of their work)! It’s such a fun time and really makes me feel like a valued member of the company. Another perk – free ice cream every Thursday! My department is also beautifully diverse – my coworkers have been recruited from countries including Greece, China, Australia, Japan, Germany, Colombia, India, and many more. The result is a group of scientists with varying perspectives who are able to attack a problem from multiple different angles. If you walk into the lab at any point in time, you could expect to hear five different languages being spoken at once. Because of this, Regeneron feels like the “melting pot” of science: a place where people of all backgrounds come together to address today’s global medical problems. As an Italian major, I was so excited to find out that Dr. Smaldone herself is from Italy! Not only did she help me develop as a scientist, but she also helped me develop my Italian every chance that we got. Our speaking practice in the lab exposed me to a whole new realm of scientific vocabulary that I was never previously in contact with. I am so fortunate to be working with Dr. Smaldone. While she’s been an excellent teacher of science and Italian for the past two years, she has also become an excellent friend. We even got the chance to meet up in Naples (where she’s from) while I was studying abroad this past summer! There, I met her extended family, had the greatest pizza of my life, and was given an amazing tour of the city. Working at Regeneron has perfectly prepared me for my future career goals. I am currently applying to medical schools and am particularly interested in global health. By working with Dr. Smaldone, I’ve been trained to think scientifically while also learning more about a culture and healthcare system unlike my own. This is the kind of experience that one should expect by working at Regeneron. Everyone there is so well-rounded and personable which makes me so excited to return next summer!
If you’re interested in Regeneron’s summer internship program, visit the following link: https://careers.regeneron.com/c/research-and-development-jobs. Internship positions pop up on this site throughout the winter, so check back periodically if you don’t see any spots at the moment! And feel free to reach out with any questions ([email protected])!
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January 2022
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