Season 2 Episode 11: Meet BioBuilder Presley Simelus

In this interview, Presley notes how they haven’t seen a single program or organization that is similar to BioBuilder. Presley would know, given the range of programs that they have engaged in.

Presley is currently an 11th grade student at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School in Cambridge, MA. The first BioBuilder experience for Presley came as an 8th grader through an exploratory program BioBuilder ran in the Learning Lab @ LabCentral. After a 9th grade “zoom only” year that included a virtual biology class, Presley joined BioBuilder’s High School Apprenticeship Challenge as a 10th grader. This was the program that gave them lots of hands-on lab training and reinforced their interest in molecular biology. Their Apprenticeship biodesign project was an at-home HIV test. Though Presley came into the Apprenticeship thinking they would pursue a political science in college, the BioBuilder experience shifted their ambitions to study biochemistry in college.

Their experience as an Apprentice has led to additional professional experiences during high school, notably a three week summer internship at Tufts Medical Center in a research lab studying cholera. This year, Presley kicked off the all-new BioBuilder Student Ambassador program, presenting BioBuilder’s opportunities to other students at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School and recording a lab training video for this year’s BioBuilderClub teams. 

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Transcript

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 0:00

Hello and welcome to Life Changing Science, the BioBuilder podcast. I'm your host, Zeeshan. And today's guest is Presley Simelus. Presley is a student at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has a great passion for biotech and has been involved in a number of BioBuilder s programs most recently, the High School Apprenticeship Challenge. He's also the first BioBuilder student ambassador to participate in an outreach event. In today's episode, I'm gonna talk to Presley about how his experiences at BioBuilder has helped shape his career trajectory at high school. So let's dive right into this episode. When do you first get involved with, with BioBuilder? What was your first experience?

Presley Simelus: 0:45

My first experience was in eighth grade. And it was through a program that was kind of like, that was kind of advertised by my school and I thought it was interesting. And so I signed up and from there we just started like doing experiments, a local laboratory called Lab Central. And then after that my next experience was in the 10th grade. And it was through the apprenticeship program.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 1:11

And what made you join the apprenticeship program in year 10?

Presley Simelus: 1:16

I think what made me join the apprenticeship program was honestly just like an interest in biology and an interest in like, like molecular biology because most of my experience was either through babo or it was through my ninth grade biology class. And biology was over Zoom that year, so it wasn't too in depth and I kind of wanted to explore more.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 1:40

What did the apprenticeship program included? What did you learn? What sort of experiments did you do? And I'm sure there was some experiments you did for the first time, right?

Presley Simelus: 1:47

Yeah, there was a lot of experiments that did for first time. A lot of it was brand new to me and I was like learning while I was going. But a lot of the apprenticeship program really just comprised of, of doing certains with cells and like seeing how they like work under certain environments and like purifying plasmids and really just like messing with e coli all around.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 2:11

So. Okay. So you do the apprenticeship program in year 10. You have a great experience with that. Learn a lot. And I really like what you said, learning as you go that's, that's the best way to do it. And BioBuilder has so many like mentors and teachers and you know, the curriculum is so great that it really allows learning as you go after the apprenticeship program. What was the next step?

Presley Simelus: 2:32

After the apprenticeship program, I actually joined a lab at Tuft Medical Center specifically their school of Bio Medical sciences through this program called the Teachers and High School Students Program. And I had basically everything I did in the apprenticeship, I did it, but in like a academic setting and I just found it to be really cool<laugh>.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 2:56

Yeah. Yeah. And sorry, before you continue, how when you were applying, cause I was for the Tufts medical program, was this a summer internship?

Presley Simelus: 3:06

Yeah, it was a three week summer internship. Yeah.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 3:09

Okay. Awesome. And I presume like while, you know, you had, it was a formal application and I presume while you were applying for the, the internship, they definitely would've asked you about your BioBuilder experience. Do you, do you feel BioBuilder was very instrumental that the apprenticeship program at BioBuilder, how instrumental was that for you to then move on to do the Tufts medical? Yeah, the, the internship at Tufts?

Presley Simelus: 3:36

Yeah, I feel like BioBuilder was extremely instrumental. I feel like it really gave me like a leg up when going into the lab because I went there and everyone kind of expected me to like start with the basics, but like already knew how to do pipetting, already knew some lab math and it really just helped me like put my like foot in doorway.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 3:57

Yeah, definitely. Cuz yeah, there's not, there wouldn't be a lot of year tens who would be as, I guess well versed in. I guess it's more about just having the confidence when going into lab. Cause it can be quite intimidating, I feel, you know, stepping into your lab. Okay. Yeah. So it's, it's, it's fair to say BioBuilder was quite instrumental for you getting that internship, which is, you know, which is awesome. And what, what did the internship involve?

Presley Simelus: 4:26

Internship involved me trying to put a plasmid into E coli so that that plasmid could then be transferred into cholera. Yeah, that's because I was working at, I was, I interning at the lung lab at Tufts and they focus on<inaudible>, but since I'm a minor I can't actually like handle the bacteria. So I handled a BSL one bacteria.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 4:52

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, and I think a lot of the, I mean, what you just mentioned right now in terms of lab techniques, I think you, you covered that during the apprenticeship program in BioBuilder, right?

Presley Simelus: 5:02

Yeah, like honestly, everything BioBuilder, it kind of like prepped me for everything at Tufts, honestly. Yeah.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 5:10

Ah, that's, that's so good because it's such, it's so good to have like, so you basically had like in that year you had like BioBuilder apprenticeship program plus the Tufts internship, which is such a great experience. And like I'm sure the learning curve is very steep, but it's so good to have that in the space of a few months. You have learned so much and like developed so much as a scientist I presume.

Presley Simelus: 5:33

It was really surreal just looking back at it because like I tend to be very humble about things like this and I didn't think too much of it, but like now actually like reflecting upon it, it's just kind of insane that I had like both of those opportunities.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 5:49

Yeah. And be able to help facilitate that. Awesome. and I guess the next, the next step for you was to then join the, the Student Ambassador program or was there a few steps in between before that?

Presley Simelus: 6:06

Well between Tufts and BioBuilder enjoy the ambassador program. I kinda just took my summer off and enjoyed myself, but I started

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 6:16

Well deserved of course<laugh>. Yeah.

Presley Simelus: 6:19

I started going back into biology with the student ambassadorship.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 6:24

So you take the summer off you're going to grade 11. And what prompted cause I know the BioBuilder, the student Ambassador program is is a new initiative, relatively new initiative. What made you was very appealing about the Student Ambassador program? What made you want to do this?

Presley Simelus: 6:45

I think what made me want to do this was honestly just everything that BioBuilder is about. Like when I like look at programs, like I haven't seen a single program that's similar to BioBuilder or a single organization that's similar to it. And I honestly just find so much value in the organization and I feel like so many of my peers would benefit from it. And so many people that I just kind of know. And I thought that'd be a good idea that I should just help elevate it honestly.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 7:18

Yeah. And it's BioBuilder letter had such a, a great impact in your, you know, personal and professional development and you want to spread the word and help other people sort of I guess reach to a position where you are in high school. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. And okay, as part of the Student Ambassador program, you had an outreach event at prospect Hill Charter School in Cambridge. I'd love to hear more about that entire event. What do you guys do? And I'm always interested in, actually let, let's answer that first part. What did the outreach event involve?

Presley Simelus: 7:57

So you outreach event. So my school we hold a enrichment slash recruitment fair like during, during the beginning of every semester. And I thought it would just be a good idea for like Bell Boaters to be there. And so I represented the foundation and at the enrichment fair. I really just like made like my peers and like other students at my school more aware of the organization and I kinda just like helped spread the word and try to convince people to join some of the program.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 8:31

Yeah. Yeah. Nice. And what were some of the common questions? Cause I, I was a student ambassador for sort of the biotech school back in, back in Sydney and you'd get such a different range of questions from so many different students. So I guess first question as well which year group was the outreach program for? Or was it for the entire high school?

Presley Simelus: 8:57

It was for the entire high school and also grade seven three because the high school, middle school right next to each other.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 9:04

Oh yeah. Okay. That, that makes a lot of sense. What were some of the questions you got asked by, let's say the, the year sevens trying to learn more about biotech and BioBuilder? Cuz that's because it's, it's, it's a cool time. I definitely wasn't asking questions about biotech in year seven.

Presley Simelus: 9:22

Well there wasn't too many middle schoolers but the ones that were there, all of them primarily asked me about like, when they could apply, like when they could join. Like they were really eager to like, just like put their foot in the door and then just get it rolling and Yeah.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 9:42

Yeah, yeah. No, of course. And I guess more if you go towards like year 9, 10, 11, what were they most interested in?

Presley Simelus: 9:53

I think they, they're bossy interested and were were the aspects of like, the different programs. Like they, like I said, that I was an alum of the apprenticeship and they like really wanted to know more about what I did and what they would be doing.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 10:08

Before you continued, did I, I feel we didn't spend enough time on The Apprentice. Your experience at the apprenticeship program how long was were was the apprenticeship program?

Presley Simelus: 10:20

The apprenticeship program was eight weeks.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 10:23

Eight weeks. Awesome. So during the apprenticeship program, you could you talk me through like week by week? Like, doesn't have to be super detailed of course, but just for some, just, you know, for a perspective student listening who wants to join the apprenticeship program, learn more about it, what can their day to day look like? Like I'm sure week one was getting accustomed with the lab and doing some of like, you know, some basic biology. Am I right?

Presley Simelus: 10:53

Yeah, that's correct. The beginning of it was kind of just like very much introductions into like some basic concepts and like introduction to the lab. Since for most of us it was our first time in a lab environment. But throughout like the whole entire course of the u apprenticeship, it was like primarily focused around just like learning more about e coli and doing like experiments like plasma purification. But in addition to that, there's also a biodesign project that we're doing in like small groups. And every group was every group chose a specific area that they would focus in. And my group, we chose medicine and for our project we decided to create, like we decided to design a new type of HIV test and other students came up with

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 11:48

Ooh, awesome,

Presley Simelus: 11:49

Thank you. And other students that came up with other bio designs, like, I think one of them was a air purifier, another one was like a covid tester. But the apprenticeship was like explained to a lot of like lab work and a lot of bio design and

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 12:06

Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's so cool where it's, you get to do so much and you actually get to do you're not only in a short space of time, get to just learn some of the basics and get comfortable in lab, but you actually get to work on really, really cool projects that, you know, scientists are working on at universities, at in industry, et cetera, which is such a, such a great experience to have. Yeah. Cool. So, okay. Amazing. So you, what is your role at the moment at at the Ambassador program? What's, what's the next, next outreach event or activity? What are you guys planning?

Presley Simelus: 12:48

We don't have too many like, solid plans yet, but as of right now all of the investors were kind of just like keeping an eye out for any opportunities that we have to help represent BioBuilder. I think a few weeks ago yeah, back in October, I actually recorded a demo for the Babo Club for my trip. And yeah, like me personally, I'm kind of just like keeping a eye out for any opportunities.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 13:18

You're currently a, a junior and it's yeah, it's, it's a, it's, it can be a very stressful time, you know, SATs and applying to colleges. And that brings me to my next question is, of course you've done, you've had such a great experience with BioBuilder, you've done the internship at Tufts, so I presume you'll be looking into biotech yeah, like biotech synthetic biology program to a college.

Presley Simelus: 13:45

Oh for sure. Like,

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 13:47

Yeah,

Presley Simelus: 13:47

<Laugh>, I'm not exactly sure of my specific major, but yeah, someone asked me, I'm like, I think Biochemistry<laugh>.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 13:55

Yeah. Yeah. Hey, that's my major.<Laugh> and I, you know, I probably don't have to ask, but how, how influential and was, was BioBuilder in helping you make that decision? Cause it's, you know, looking back at my high school, I was doing so many different subjects and it got a bit, and I really liked science, but I liked engineering. I ended up choosing, so when I did my undergrad in Sydney, Australia, we had like a flexible first year where we could do a bunch of like science and engineering courses. So I was lucky in that sense, but it, it can be just finding direction into one where you wanna apply to college and what you wanna study is, is a lot for, you know, a 16, 17 year old. And do, do you feel BioBuilder helped give you that direction? Do you think you'd actually maybe, you know, if it wasn't for Bilder, you might have not gone into biotech or biology?

Presley Simelus: 14:54

Oh, a hundred percent. I definitely, I know that like, bio voter has definitely shaped my trajectory. I feel like actually going into the apprenticeship I was thinking of like being a political science major,<laugh> but interesting eight weeks I just like completely like changed gears and I was like, yeah, something with biology like chemistry or like milli biology is definitely what I want to do.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 15:20

Yep. Awesome. And it's, it's so good to have that direction because one like, I guess BioBuilder gives you one path and gives you, you know, direction and I think what's great about that is it sort of stake takes a bit of, you know of the stress away I feel and just helps you sort of focus and I guess it's, it's fair to say that BioBuilder to helped give you that direction which you could work towards something that you can work towards for the latter stages of your high school.

Presley Simelus: 15:57

Yeah, I like a hundred percent agree. Like I think BioBuilder honestly just gave me so much guidance and gave me a lot more, like, not necessarily leeway, but just freedom of what I'm doing right now. Yeah. Per se.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 16:13

Yeah. Yeah. And, and it's so exciting cuz there's so much, you know, biotech is very, very broad field. And there's also, you know, you mentioned, you know, political science, there's, there's so much like policy around biotech as well. Yeah. For example, you know, biosecurity, et cetera, and there's so many options. And I guess, yeah, that, that leads me, I guess the next question is what advice I guess this is, yeah, this is the, the final question actually. So what advice would you give to prospective students that are, you know, currently either in Yeah, in, in high school that are looking to get involved with one, you know, help to grow the bio economy, who wanna be part of the bio economy and, you know, I think BioBuilder is the best way to, to get started on that. I may be a bit biased<laugh> but what would your advice be to high school students who wanna learn more about the bio bio and by economy and why is Buyer Builder the best place to start? Start that journey?

Presley Simelus: 17:20

I think first thing I would just like suggest to like any high schooler is one, relax. Like it'll be okay<laugh> and two always just like ask around because I feel like everyone just knows someone else and that person knows someone else and eventually you'll get to where you want to. Like, I actually went back into bio Loader and found about the apprenticeship through my biology teacher and I was asking her, Hey, can I do like biology programs? And she like sent me a babo and yeah, I feel like

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 17:58

The rest is history<laugh>.

Presley Simelus: 17:59

Yeah. I feel like

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 18:01

Love

Presley Simelus: 18:01

That someone and was the second part of the question

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 18:06

That was pretty much the question. Oh, actually but no, sorry, now it's the final question. So cuz if you had such a great, you know, experience and in the biotech world in your high school which is super great and I'm really, really like excited to know what's next one? Sorry for asking this question cuz like, probably everyone is asking you, you know, you're giving, like where are you applying to college, what are you doing, what is next? What do you wanna do with the rest of your life? You don't have to answer any of that<laugh>. But I, I am curious as to, you know, one, we've established that, you know, you're looking into like biotech programs and you know, within biotech there's so many, there's, you know, molecular bio biochemistry, genetics bioinformatics, something that I also you know, I did a double major in biochemistry and bioinformatics. Oh. There's like biostatistic this so much, which is super exciting. I think it's one of the most interdisciplinary fields. So what, you know, what are some of the programs and colleges that, that you are exploring at the moment?

Presley Simelus: 19:12

As of right now for programs, I don't have too many on my list. But

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 19:20

I mean, you know, you keep adding, you're still in the process of, of looking through it, right? Yeah.

Presley Simelus: 19:24

But I've been interested in the Harvard CURE program which is like all about cancer research. A lot of like MIT Leah Nox programs they are like similar to what I did at Tufts and also y I did at BioBuilder through the apprenticeship. And one other forgot it. Oh, and that's okay. The Ragon institute at MIT and Harvard.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 19:51

Nice.

Presley Simelus: 19:52

Yeah, that's kind of like one thing. Nice. For programs.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 19:54

Yeah. And this is very, very early to ask, but do you think you, what aspect of, I guess, biotech is interesting to you in terms of maybe career, again, way too early to answer this<laugh>, but you know, never too early to ask. Like of course there's the research side of things, but I'm curious if you're interested in, in the entrepreneurship or science communication side of it as well.

Presley Simelus: 20:23

I, I think I've primarily just been looking at research because like I, I've had like experiences with it and I just like tend to enjoy it. But yeah, I think I've really like, like experienced like bioinformatics and other parts of just biotech to really stay.

Zeeshan Siddiqui: 20:44

Yeah. Which you'll get, you'll get the opportunity to do that, that in undergrad anyways. Yeah, thanks once again to Presley for joining me today. He's had such a great high school biotech experience with BioBuilder, giving him the foundation to develop the confidence and basic skills needed to work in a lab. He then applied those skills during an internship at Tufts and now he's a BioBuilder ambassador trying to bring BioBuilder s impact to a larger audience. And something that I found very insightful was Presley's description about the BioBuilder program, learning as You Go, which I believe is the best way to learn and BioBuilder really embodies that. I feel this episode will be very useful to any high schooler looking to finally get started with their biotech journey. And I, the best place to start is BioBuilder. If you'd like to learn more about anything Presley and I discuss today, please refer to the show notes. Join me for the next BioBuilder podcast. We'll welcome another wonderful guest whose career has been influenced by BioBus life changing science. See you next time.