>>10376321Any advice on emailing professors? My experience so far with every professors at my school has been dismissive (I get it, they deal with tons of undergrads).
Do I succinctly explain "I am writing to inquire if you have time, space, and resources to accommodate an intern.
I am a sophomore at so-and-so community college. I will be a student at so-and-so state university in the Fall.
I would like to use X chemical on X cell-line to observe the immune and inflammatory responses. X chemical binds to so-and-so receptor, which induces differentiation into macrophages. I would then like to quantify cytokines such as IL-6 and IL-8, which inhibit Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) and IL-1. I believe this relationship has significant application to senescence, cancer, and aging research.
..."
I don't really know how I would transition to asking to join the lab with the purpose of gaining experience in the research process so that I may fully flesh out, learn new techniques/methods, and ultimately use the data that I end up finding to explain what I found.
(I've taken 4 courses that only taught me the methods/techniques (including an entire course on mammalian cell culturing/methods) used in a biotech lab, but not really how to use them with a goal in mind.