The benefits of working at Mayo are amazing ... good health care, competitive pay, on-site fitness center, tuition reimbursement, employee education classes, discounts on movie tickets, free city bus pass and most importantly, the people.

I help develop new lab tests aimed at detecting specific mutations in the human genome that are thought to contribute to disease. A typical day starts with figuring out what experiments I have to run that day to help achieve certain goals. I then prepare and run the experiments. One lesson I learned very quickly is that your experiments rarely ever work or give you the results you want the first time. That is OK, because no matter what the results are, you can learn from them and try something else next time. It's actually fun because it's like a puzzle. You just keep trying different things and tweaking reaction conditions until you get the intended results. You get to use your imagination when designing your experiments.

Working in a development laboratory, we are often the first people to work with some of the newest biotechnology, which is neat. I also enjoy the independence I'm given. Once I'm given a project, it's up to me to decide the best way to go about working on it. However, I know that if I run into problems or need advice, my co-workers are there to offer suggestions and help. It's a very supportive environment. My job is also very flexible. It is easy to take time off or to flex my time.

I feel so lucky to work at such a well-known and respected institution. I know that the work I do here is highly valued and important to our patients. There is a great sense of teamwork and mutual respect among employees and I am proud to be a part of it.