December 19, 2025
introduction
At Vive Crop Protection, mentorship and hands-on learning are seen as a crucial means to how we grow not just innovative agricultural solutions, but also the next generation of scientists. Internships at Vive are designed to be immersive, challenging, and deeply collaborative, providing students with the opportunity to develop real-world skills while making meaningful contributions to ongoing research.
Over the past eight months, Crystal Lau joined Vive’s plant biology lab as an intern, working closely with her supervisor, Heather Slinn. What developed was an ever-evolving experience rooted in curiosity, independence, and scientific problem-solving. Read on to hear Crystal and Heather share their unique perspectives on the internship experience:
life in the lab: crystal's internship story
Question: How would you summarize your internship experience in the lab?
Crystal: As my first job in the agricultural field, it’s been a jam-packed eight months in the best way possible! Among other things, I learned how to propagate over 20 crops and weeds, perform experimental imaging, set up zone of inhibition assays, and process field soil. There’s never a dull moment when we’re working in the lab – we’re always innovating with regard to our methodologies and our setups. Ultimately, I would say that my experience has been much like our approach to controlled-environment work: ever-evolving!
Question: What was your favourite part of the internship?
Crystal: I really enjoyed learning how to prepare different types of experiments and participating in the experimental optimization process! Alongside day-to-day lab duties, Heather gave me free rein to explore experimental research and design via an independent weed germination project. Getting the opportunity to develop and implement my own dormancy-breaking seed treatments and analyze the resulting germination data has greatly shaped my development as a scientist by familiarizing me with fundamental scientific processes. Of course, it’s also been a very rewarding undertaking: on one memorable occasion, I successfully increased germination by 30% compared to the control. I’m very grateful for Heather’s unwavering confidence in my abilities – everything I have achieved is thanks to her mentorship!
Crystal in the Plant Biology Lab
Question: What is a skill you learned at Vive that you're excited to use in the future?
Crystal: When I first started working at Vive, I had no prior experience in the microbiological field. I found it fascinating to learn how agar plates could be used for seed germination, and I’m excited to apply this technique in future research!
Question: How would you describe your experience working with the Vive team?
Crystal: The team at Vive has been a pleasure to work with! Everyone is welcoming, open, and always happy to help – there’s a sense of teamwork here that really speaks to the close-knit community Vive has cultivated.
Special shoutout to Heather, who has been (and continues to be) infinitely patient with all my questions! Her guidance and mentorship have been a defining element of my time here. Heather taught me many things, but more than technical skills or agricultural knowledge, what stood out the most was her faith in me to tackle almost any problem, given enough time. Scientists are driven by evidence, and she proved it to me again and again: very little stays unsolvable if you dedicate enough brainpower to it!
The Vive team is full of creative and resourceful scientists, and I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from them.
Question: What is one thing you would tell someone interested in interning at Vive?
Crystal: Vive is an excellent place to pursue your internship! The mentorship I received during my co-op placement has been pivotal to my scientific journey. You’ll be in great hands with the Vive team, and they’ll make sure that you’ll grow as a scientist by leaps and bounds.
I especially recommend working in the plant biology lab for those who believe that variety is the spice of life: there was always something new for me to learn! I’m confident that the experience will be equally engaging for future interns.
mentorship in action: Heather reflects on crystal's experience
Question: How would you summarize your experience working with Crystal?
Heather: Crystal has been a fantastic student to work with. I had a good feeling about her from her interview; she was mature, professional, and already had a bunch of work experience under her belt, including working for an accounting firm (data experience!). In the lab, she's been great at asking questions, making sure the quality of her work is high and taking initiative to solve some of our problems. Her independence in thinking is my favourite of her traits. I hope she comes back to work with me again!
Question: How did you see her grow from day one through the end of her internship?
Heather: As Crystal's term with me progressed, I handed her more and more responsibility. We started with an independent project on improving plant propagation practices. I provided guidance and resources initially, but she took it and ran with it. Rarely needing much of anything from me after that. She had multiple wins in that project, all from her own design. By the end of her time with me, she was independently running in-vitro biology experiments and handing me data that she had processed.
I also had fun testing her limits along the way. I wanted her to find her time with me rewarding, and so I gave her challenging assignments to see how far she could get. One of the assignments I handed her could have been for a PhD student. She's a great scientist already.
Question: What impact did she have on the team or lab workflow?
Heather: She had a massive impact on productivity. The output of my lab doubled once she was fully trained, and that only took a month. She also left me with better propagation practices that she figured out for a variety of plants, sometimes halving propagation time. She often had ideas that were better than mine and helped me generate new solutions when I got stuck.
Question: What's one piece of advice you hope she takes with her?
Heather: I hope she isn't afraid to dive into complicated problems as she progresses in her scientific career. There's little I think she would not be able to figure out, given time and effort. And to me, solving complicated problems is one of the most rewarding aspects of a scientist's job.
Question: How does mentorship contribute to Vive's culture and mission?
Heather: Vive is a very positive and supportive workplace, and I love that we can continue to help the next generation of scientists learn here.
Heather and Crystal in the Plant Biology Lab
conclusion
Crystal’s internship is a powerful example of what can happen when curiosity meets trust and when mentorship goes beyond instruction to empowerment. Through hands-on experimentation, independent research, and meaningful collaboration, she not only grew as a scientist but also left a lasting mark on the lab’s productivity and practices.
As Crystal moves forward in her scientific journey, we’re proud to have been part of her growth and excited to see where her passion takes her next.
Learn more about the science that Vive’s people are passionate about: www.vivecrop.com/technology
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