Hello everyone, my name is Teniola Idowu but I go by "Teni." I am a third year PhD student here at NYU Langone, and I'm originally from Lanham, Maryland. I went to Penn State for undergrad where I got my degree in Microbiology.

Living in New York City is interesting, because when I first got here, I'm like, "Oh, my gosh, I'm overwhelmed!" But when you adjust after like a month or two, it's actually amazing. It's very walkable, you can take the ferry, which is really nice. And it's just so much to do. I enjoy this program. Because of the students and the friends that I've been able to meet here. There's a lot of social events your first week.

And it's nice, because some of the older grad students will come as well, to kind of like, are there to show you the way to tell you the do's and the don'ts, like what to do, what not to do. I was partnered up with other students and postdocs in the lab. And that's exciting because they help to show you like different techniques that you don't know, show you papers that you need to be familiar with. And they kind of get you up to date on the techniques you need to complete your project.

So what's exciting about what I'm working on as it relates to inflammatory bowel disease, and there's no drugs or medications that can actually repair the damage that's done, but there's a lot of drugs that can help to alleviate the symptoms. And what's exciting about my project is that I'm studying a protein that seems to restore a cell type known as paneth cells in the small intestines. The potential to know that I can help people later on with this disease and with this problem is exciting.

The faculty are easily accessible, they're always willing and ready to help you. And also, it's just a lot of fun. Like, we'll have happy hours together, retreats together, lab meetings, people have joint lab meetings together, so it's a really collaborative environment. When things get tough and difficult in graduate school, which they will like realistically speaking, it's always nice to have a community and people who are there to support you. And that was one of the main things I personally was looking for when it came time to choosing a lab. It's like, you want to have good research, you want to have a great mentor, but you also want to have an environment that allows you to grow.

The community foster here is what really caught my eye and which is why I really enjoy being in the program. It's always good to know that, "Okay, when I've worked hard for the day, and I've gone to lab, I can go out with my friends and have fun." My favorite thing honestly, it's just the eat, which is why I like being in New York City. There's a couple of different food festivals in the city that we go to every summer happy hours is fun. I go to the gym now, which is nice because I've tried to live like a healthier lifestyle. Living near campus is actually great and the commute is easy. The area safe. I never really feel uncomfortable walking around here. I live in an apartment complex where NYU just rents out some of the apartments. So I'm living amongst just like regular people living in the city. So it's a nice little break where I go to lab, I can go home and feel like I'm at home.

I live right on East River and this place called Waterside Plaza. It's actually really nice because I have a view of East River from my window and I live on like the 30th floor. So I love it. I know like there's going to be times when like there's low moments and they're not that exciting, but I think my favorite part is the fact that there's always gonna be somebody there to catch you when you fall. And that's what I've always wanted from a graduate school experience program. And I found that here. I'm in good hands.