Katherine Burgos Interns with Pfizer through INROADS

2016 Aug 8

Katherine Burgos '17, a biology major from New London, landed a paid summer internship with Pfizer, a global pharmaceutical company based in Groton. Burgos is working full time in Pfizer's Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Research Unit to find treatments for people with obesity.

Burgos works with protein receptors in the brain that are responsible for controlling body weight. Her lab aims to disrupt the functioning of these proteins, resulting in weight loss for people who suffer from obesity. Most of her 40-hour-a-week internship is spent in the lab, where she designs and conducts experiments, and gathers and analyzes results.

"I have learned many skills and techniques that I'll be able to apply in my future career, and also when I return to the labs at Eastern," said Burgos, who is now better acquainted with molecular techniques such as transformations, transfections and plasmid preparations. "This experience has given me new knowledge, and shown me to think more critically and to be open to new things. It's prepared me to be a better biologist."

Burgos obtained this internship through INROADS, a nonprofit organization that partners with Eastern to place talented students from diverse backgrounds in competitive internships with industry-leading companies. "Thanks to this connection, I was able to get such a good internship with this prestigious company," she said. "Opportunities like this allow students to explore what their future careers may look like, while also gaining knowledge and networking with potential employers."