Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog.

My name is Catherine Yu and I am a fourth year Microbiology & Immunology major in the Faculty of Science. Academically, my interests lie within human health and understanding how prokaryotes such as viruses and bacteria can contribute to human pathology and disease. The on-going COVID-19 pandemic has been an incredibly interesting time to be a Microbiology major as its provided a unique take on various topics regarding public health and brought up interesting perspectives on things like vaccines that traditional lectures might not have focused on. Virology is a complex area of research with major implications on global health (evidently!) and I’m excited to have the opportunity to learn from leaders in the field and contribute to educating the public about the real facts behind viral infections.

This past year I had the chance to work at Vancouver Prostate Centre as a research assistant doing structural studies on a novel transcription factor that has been implicated in prostate cancer progression. I had the opportunity to design and carry out various protein studies in both bacterial and mammalian expression systems and was introduced to various avenues of research in the field of oncology. This internship further cemented my interests in human health but made it harder for me to decide on a specific area of study in terms of my future career path. I am still exploring my options for post-grad but I look forward to doing a few more internships in the coming year to help me narrow down my interests.

Outside of school, I volunteer with the UBC Third World Eye Care Society, a Canadian charity that collects eyeglasses and distributes them to individuals in need in developing countries. I recently sorted hundreds of eyeglasses at their Eyeglasses Warehouse and it was an eye-opening experience to learn about the immense impact that a simple pair of eyeglasses can have. If anyone has any interest in volunteering with us, feel free to reach out- we could always use another set of hands!