Name: Sahana Datar
Class Year: 2026
Major: Chemistry, Minor: Mathematics
Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO
Internship Organization: MD Anderson Cancer Center
Internship Title: Summer Research Intern
Location: Houston, TX
What's happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
I am a research intern at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX this summer. I am working in an imaging physics lab under Dr. James Bankson where the goal of the lab is to study and build MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines. Dr. Bankson's lab works with hyperpolarized compounds such as hyperpolarized pyruvate and xenon gas to produce a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than with regular compounds. This higher SNR allows the desired area to be seen very clearly in an MRI which can help diagnose different forms of cancers quickly. In particular, this lab studies hyperpolarized pyruvate because cancer cells convert pyruvate to lactate at a much higher rate than normal cells. My role in this lab was to create models in MatLab comparing the rate of conversion from pyruvate to lactate with the SNR values of pyruvate and lactate over a period of time. These models were created based on previous research done in the lab where mice were injected with tumor cells and then with hyperpolarized pyruvate, and using coils that were designed in the lab, images were taken using the MRI to calculate the SNR values.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I applied for this internship because I am interested in medical research and I wanted to learn more about the different paths within the broad field of medicine. I love chemistry and math and this lab seemed like the perfect combination of both due to the heavy physics and quantum mechanics aspects as well as the cancer metabolism elements. I had heard about MD Anderson from a friend and I was amazed at how much they had contributed to cancer research and how each lab at MD Anderson was directly involved in finding treatments for cancer.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?
The biggest challenge that I faced at my internship was preparing a poster encompassing all my work over the summer and presenting it to my fellow interns as well as my lab group and hundreds of other scientists. I think that one of the hardest parts was fitting everything that I did over the summer onto one piece of paper and being able to explain it in a way that would not overwhelm others but also would present my work in a meaningful way. In addition to this challenge, a more tangible challenge that occurred was during hurricane Beryl where the power was out in the entire city for multiple days. MD Anderson had to be shut down for a day and it took many days to get everything back to normal. While this presented many uncomfortable moments for me (mostly the lack of AC in 100 degree weather), seeing how the MD Anderson was able to move past this so quickly gave me an understanding of how important their patients are to them.
What has been your favorite part of this internship?
My favorite part of this internship has been the people that I have met, both in the internship program as well as in my lab. The lab that I worked in was made of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and another intern who is currently in medical school in Houston. I learned so much from all of them and it was always so much fun to be around them. The graduate students gave me so many tips for how to achieve my goals after I graduate from 91´«Ã½ and they helped me learn skills that I would not have learned had I not been at MD Anderson in Dr. Bankson's lab.