My life as a Ph.D. graduate student in Dr. Sheth’s lab was exciting, challenging and extremely fulfilling. In my Ph.D. I developed a new way to treat C.difficile infection. C.difficile is a common enteric pathogen in both humans and animals and leads to severe diarrhea, inflammation and even death by releasing toxins that kill healthy cells. Although antibiotics are the current first-line treatment, they are associated with a high rate of disease recurrence and treatment failure. Therefore, new and novel treatment modalities are urgently needed. In my graduate program, I isolated and characterized a bacterial protein that is released by commensal bacteria in the gut and found that it is able to degrade C.difficile toxins. I then used a combination of in vitro wet lab techniques and an in vivo animal model to prove its ability to prevent disease. We are excited about the significant impact of these findings and are hopeful that they will help to address the high burden of C.difficile infection. Although these findings excite me, the road to getting here was challenging. In grad school, resiliency is extremely important because there will always be setbacks. However, embracing these setbacks, mentally rebounding, and adjusting will lead to the most enriching learning experiences. It is hard to describe what day-to-day looks like because every day is different and much less structured than undergrad. I went through times of being in the lab daily for several hours (even on weekends), but I have also had the freedom to take time off when needed and spend time working from home doing data analysis or writing proposals, applications, manuscripts, etc.. your productivity really depends on you! In grad school, you are responsible for your own success, and that can be intimidating, but ultimately, I appreciated the flexibility once I got to know myself and what I needed to put in to achieve my goals. I thoroughly enjoyed working in GIDRU, especially due to the collaborative nature of the group. In GIDRU, I had opportunities to present my research to fellow students and faculty, receive feedback from individuals of diverse backgrounds and have countless life chats with students as we crossed paths in the hallways. Grad school is meant to be challenging and to push you out of your comfort zone – but when you are in the right environment, you might even find it enjoyable