This week was my first week in Dr. Kavaraki’s lab. It was a pleasure to meet the lab manager, Dr. Kingston, as well as the members of the biology group. At my first meeting, I got a better sense for the grad student’s projects, including which project I’ll be working on. This project, headed by Romanos, involves modeling and predicting how a given peptide will bind to a Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), which is a protein complex core to the immune system. I spent the rest of the week digging through the code for this project, learning the ins and outs of the packages and processes being used. I had an excellent time getting to know the members of the lab, attending meetings, and exploring Rice’s campus. While Texas in the summer is a bit warmer than I’m used to, it seems like a fun city and I’m excited to spend the next few months here!