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Student Profiles

Student Spotlight – Trung Huynh

By: Nicholas Bolin

July 01, 2017

Undergraduate students spend their summers in a variety of ways. A few examples might include interning, performing research, visiting family, and/or taking summer classes. Though a lot of us may feel guilty about all of our unfulfilled summer goals, there are many in the Science & Technology Honors Program whose accomplishments shine out above the typical student’s. One exemplification of such a student is Trung Huynh—a rising Junior who is currently researching an insulin secretion pathway under the 6 supervision of Dr. Sushant Bhatnagar in the Department of Endocrinology. Trung recently received a Student Success Award and was able to attend a three-day international conference at the University of Wisconsin. He presented his research orally at this conference, the 10th Annual Midwest Islet Club (MIC). He won an award for his presentation, and he was able to connect with multiple diabetes centers for potential future collaborations and for graduate programs. The environment, he says, was not as scary as he expected. The mentality at MIC was very supportive and traineefocused, and he followed up with each faculty that asked him questions about his research. Trung has some advice for students who want to qualify for a Student Success Award, as well as for those who may be preparing their research for a conference: join a lab you are passionate about and be ambitious. Balancing substantial amount of lab hours with a full course load is challenging, and if you are not interested in the material you are researching then you will quickly become disheartened. Additionally, if you dislike the PI or the research material, or if the lab is not supportive of undergraduate development, consider looking elsewhere. Be prepared for your experiments to fail and, in Trung’s words, “Attempt to appreciate the process of science, not just results. It will make the journey much more enjoyable and you will end up learning more about yourself as a researcher and a thinker.” Also, don’t sell yourself short—you will likely be taken far out of your 7 comfort zone, but such challenges will help you grow as a presenter and a researcher. Trung was the only undergraduate invited to present his research orally out of 40 different presenters. He placed third in orals, becoming the only undergraduate in the past 6 or 7 years to win such an award. Two months later, he presented the same project at UAB’s Summer Expo and placed 2nd in oral. In the future he aims to pursue a career as an endocrinologist research and obtain his MD/PhD.

By Adetokunbo Olumayode Ayokanmbi

July 01, 2017

This summer, five SciTech students were given the opportunity to investigate and develop solutions to clinical issues. Through the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program, which is funded directly by UAB President Ray Watts, rising juniors Brody DeSilva, Allaire Doussan, Ali El-Husari, Hira Munir and Paige Severino worked to try to improve patients’ qualities of life. The “Wired Team”, DeSilva, Doussan, and Munir, endeavored toward a better method to secure devices, tubing, and wires to patients’ skin in order to reduce device-related complications such as pressure ulcers, medical adhesive related skin injuries (MARSI), dislodgement, infiltration, extravasation, infection, and phlebitis. ElHusari and Severino instead focused their attention on improving current ostomy care through engineering and collaboration with clinicians, nurses, and patients. An ostomy is a surgical procedure that SciTech Scoop June and July 2017 Highlights 2 attaches part of the bowel to the outside of the body so that waste can be diverted and collected in a bag adhered to the skin. This typically serves as a solution for various bowel diseases; colon, rectal, and bladder cancer; traumatic injury to their bowel; and other conditions that affect the gastrointestinal and urinary tracts. Though receiving an ostomy can be life-saving, for some patients it also causes psychological and/or physical pain. The fellowship began in the ICUs of UAB Hospital where the students shadowed clinicians, interacted with patients, and watched surgeries for a week to better conceptualize the issue (be more specific, what issue?) and build empathy for the people affected. The next step of the fellowship required that they conduct background research to identify the methods relevant to their process and, in particular, those needing improvement. Following their research, the students progressed to the ideation phase in which they brainstormed new methods. Now, they are in the prototyping stage, creating models that will address the problems they assessed in the first stages of the fellowship. At the end of the summer, they will present their work to Dr. Watts and their clinical partners, hoping that each group will have a functioning prototype and SBIR/STTR grant for further development. It has been an amazing and life-changing summer for these students. “Winning this fellowship has definitely given me experiences that I never imagined an undergraduate student would have,” said Doussan, who is majoring in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. The power of collaboration has been a significant key to success in the fellowship. Munir, who is majoring in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Business Administration, stated, “Not only are there undergraduate students involved, but there are also people from the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE), faculty from the School of Nursing, faculty from the School of Engineering, staff from the Engineering and Innovative Technology Development (EITD) team, clinical partners 3 from UAB hospital, and many more collaborators that have all helped further the development of our project.” “Throughout this process, we have worked with industry professionals, clinicians, and UAB administration to quickly receive feedback on our ideas,” DeSilva, a Biomedical Engineering student, said. “This allows us to rapidly address issues in our designs and ensure that everyone’s needs are met. Working with interdisciplinary professionals on this collaborative effort has shown me how possible it is to address the needs of not only the people in Birmingham, but people of the world.” This experience has given each of these five students the knowledge and confidence to continue to create innovative solutions and pursue entrepreneurial endeavors in the future. It is because of Dr. Joel Berry, a SciTEch and BME professor, that these students were given this opportunity, and it is clear that they are grateful. Severino, who is also majoring in Biomedical Engineering, said, “Dr. Berry had a wonderful idea of bringing real clinical problems to the hands of young engineers, and we can’t thank him enough for giving us this experience. I hope that this program will continue to attract major problems and passionate students to tackle them. It may seem like a crazy idea, but we all truly have the power to make a difference in the lives of others.”

Interview with SciTech Alumnus Kelli Money

by Angelin Ponraj

January 30, 2017

Former SciTech student, Kelli Money, graduated from UAB and is on the path to receiving her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University. Currently, she is in her seventh year of the MD/PhD program at Vanderbilt University. Angelin Ponraj, a current SciTech junior majoring in Biomedical Sciences, interviewed Kelli Money regarding her experience with SciTech and how SciTech has shaped her life.

 

Q: Have you been involved in research? If yes, what was your research project? What did you learn through your experience?
A: As of December 17th, 2017, I will have completed my Ph.D. in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University. I studied the role of inflammation in predisposition for psychiatric disorders. I did greatly enjoy the science and learned valuable technical skills, but how to successfully engage with the scientific community through collaboration and how to take ownership of my work were the most valuable things my mentor taught me. It is a skill learned only through experience to confidently make important decisions about experimental design, project changes and personnel.

 

Q: What new educational experiences have you had since graduating?
A: Vanderbilt has provided me numerous opportunities to both continue my own education and participate in the education/mentoring of others. I am in my 7th year of the MD/PhD program and am fortunate enough to have had many fantastic mentors. I also have served as a teaching assistant for two graduate neuroscience courses, mentored an undergraduate student within the lab as well as numerous students through medical student organizations, and plan to complete a teaching elective in the coming year. I enjoy assisting others in the way I feel I have been helped by programs like SciTech.


Q: What did you take away from your time in the STH Program?
A: SciTech helped me discover my love of science. When I came to UAB in 2005, I thought I might like science enough to major in it before going to medical school. However, Dr. Tucker helped me see how beautifully my love of questions and research come together in a very fulfilling way. SciTech taught me analytical and technical skills and gave me the foundation that I needed for a scientific career.

 

Q: What kinds of opportunities and connections did SciTech provide you with?
A: The SciTech leadership assisted me in making my professional school decision. To this day, they remain resources for recommendation letters, mentorship, and valued friends. They continue to support me today. Dr. Tucker drove to Nashville to attend my dissertation defense, and it was great to have my UAB parent there.

 

Q: What do you wish you knew as a SciTechie that you know now?
A: I wish I had been less worried about all that I didn't know starting out. There will always be someone who knows more than you about a topic or a technique, but you can best learn when you surround yourself with those who are
intelligent. As you go along in your career, embrace feeling like the least knowledgeable person in the room. It means you are in the right place to learn something new.

by Charlie Keith

November 30, 2016

Jarrod Hicks is currently finishing his last semester at UAB. He is a neuroscience and mathematics double major who is also in the math fast-track master’s program. Jarrod has worked in two neuroimaging labs at UAB: Dr. Edward Taub’s Neuroimaging/Neurorehabilitation Lab and Dr. Kristina Vissher’s Human Behavioral Neuroscience lab.

 

To satisfy his love for neuroimaging while also applying his mathematical skills, Jarrod looked into computation. This past summer he participated in the Amgen Scholars program at MIT where he worked with Dr. Josh McDermott’s Computational Audition Laboratory (http://mcdermottlab.mit.edu). Here, Jarrod studied the variability of natural sounds through an exploratory analysis. Jarrod explained that he first recorded natural auditory scenes while walking around the MIT and Cambridge campuses as well as local businesses, a nearby beach, and a nearby forest. To capture this sound, Jarrod and his research team used a small recording device that had microphones on the outside of two small earbuds (http://www.soundman.de/en/products/).

 

Once data was collected, the team used independent component analysis to model the probability distortion of the natural scene data that they had collected. Jarrod explained that the goal was to characterize how variable the auditory scenes were. In order to measure variability, the team used Kullback-Leibler Divergence, which is a general measure of the difference between two distributions. Overall, they calculated divergence on small time windows (around 500 ms) for each of the recordings. They then computed the average divergence rate, which Jarrod explained as how fast the distribution change occurred on average.

 

In conclusion, they saw that the natural scene recordings spanned a spectrum from noise (which has very little variation) to speech (with high variation). Aside from the forest and cafe recordings, which both contained speech. Jarrod explained that the natural scenes appeared to be more stationary or noise like. In essence, the most natural scenes did not seem to greatly change from one moment to the next. Jarrod explained that the importance of this was that once the team knew the variability in natural auditory scenes (the input to the auditory system), that the team could make theoretical predictions about the adaptations of auditory neurons. Secondly, knowing that the natural auditory scenes were the input to the auditory system, not simply tones and noise, the team argued that experimenters should use more diverse stimuli when conducting further experiments.

What to do About the Cholera Epidemic in Haiti?

by Michael Casper

November 30, 2016

Jessica Blair graduated in the spring of 2016 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering and a BS in International Health. She is currently in the MPH Epidemiology master’s program in the School of Public Health here at UAB. Following the completion of this degree in 2018, she hopes to work for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia focusing on infectious diseases in third world countries. She plans on using her engineering background in the field of public health to add an innovative perspective to fieldwork.

 

Jessica chose to do a non-lab based thesis focusing on the cholera epidemic in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake. More specifically, she focused on studying the deficits in Red Cross response to the cholera epidemic in Haiti and surveyed currently available treatments for cholera. Following the earthquake, rising floodwaters helped spread the cholera bacteria to infect sources of drinking water. Unsanitary environments, overcrowding, and malnutrition all contributed to the increase in cholera infections. Her thesis, titled “Cholera Epidemic in Haiti: International Blame and Needed Future Work”, argues against relying on monetary donations to help those displaced by the earthquake. Instead, Jessica suggests utilizing education methods to aid the Haitian government in not only preventing cholera infections, but also completely getting rid of the bacteria itself.

 

Education methods suggested in her thesis include innovative water treatments that can be used in the home, such as solar disinfection. Furthermore, Jessica also suggested educating Haitian children on hand washing and clean defection practices to improve safe water usage. Lastly, she urges for a push in providing schools with vaccines and improved restrooms to help stop the cholera epidemic. She hopes that better education methods could stop the epidemic in children first, and that it could spread to the entirety of the Haitian government.

Dionna Studies Abroad!

by Janaki Rajput

November 30, 2016

Dionna Walker is an international studies and biology double major student in the Science & Technology Honors Program. This summer, she studied abroad in Tokyo, Japan in a Japanese Intensive Program at Mihon University. She received a national Freeman- Asia Scholarship, which funds students to study in Asian countries. The nine week program she was in included a variety of classes focused on the Japanese language and culture. She lived in an international dorm with students from various background studying liberal arts at Mihon University. When not occupied with coursework, Dionna participated in karate and kendo (Japanese swordsmanship) classes and explored the vast expanses of Tokyo and infamous sites like the Great Kamakuru statue. She describes the experience as one she will never forget because she made connections with students from countries all over the world and gained a deep understanding of Japanese culture.

SciTech Senior Spotlight: Steven Sheibley

by Janaki Rajput and Ryan Murphy

October 30, 2016

Steven Sheibley is a senior Chemistry major on a pre-dental track in the Science and Technology Honors Program. Steven has held several leadership positions in a variety of different organizations on campus. He is the current Vice President of the Pre-Dental Society, and he was the previous Treasurer for the same organization. Steven is also an Undergraduate Student Government Association Senator for the College of Arts and Science and the Historian for his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi.

 

Steven has conducted research at UAB’s dental school for the past two years under the mentorship of Dr. Mary MacDougall. Research in the MacDougall lab focuses on the mechanisms that lead to the formation of teeth, particularly the multiple highly specialized dental cell types that produce dentin, enamel, and cemementum. Steven has presented his research in Los Angeles as a Hatton Finalist at the American Association for Dental Research.

 

This summer, Steven participated in a 4000 mile biking tour from San Francisco to Washington DC called the Journey of Hope. On this trip, Steven rode with a large group of other bikers with the goal of raising $650,000 to benefit raising awareness of people with disabilities. On his biography page for the campaign, Steven wrote, ”All of my life, I've loved helping people. More than that, I love helping people who can't help themselves. Journey of Hope not only raises money and awareness for those with disabilities, but it provides the riders with several new life-changing relationships throughout the country. I genuinely believe my fellow brothers who participated in this trip when they say that they learned so much more from everyone they talked to in those two months than the people they talk to in everyday life. They arrived in Washington D.C. with a whole new perspective on life and that's what has driven me to apply; the combination of helping those with disabilities, making a positive impact on their lives, and learning so much more than I could ever imagine make me want to participate.” Steven was able to raise over $7,000 for The Ability Experience, an organization that raises awareness of people with disabilities.

SciTech Senior Spotlight: Maggie Collier

September 30, 2016

Maggie Collier is a senior Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering double major in the Science and Technology Honors Program. In her time at UAB, Maggie has been very involved with her research, her position as editor for Inquiro, her STH coursework, and various other extracurricular activities.

Maggie has been involved in research with Dr. Ho-Wook Jun’s Biomedical Engineering lab for two years. Although she is involved in several projects within the Department of Biomedical Engineering, her major project that she will be writing her SciTech proposal and thesis on focuses on improving a common brain aneurysm treatment called coil embolization. As Maggie explained, every project in the Jun lab uses peptide amphiphiles, molecules that contain both hydrophobic and hydrophilic portions and can self-assemble into rod-like structures. These rod-like structures can coat biomedical devices and mimic the extracellular matrix to improve the biocompatibility of the device. Additionally, peptide amphiphiles are customizable, meaning they can attach various things to the ends of the molecules. In the case of Maggie’s project, they attach endothelial cell adhesive ligands and nitric oxide- releasing groups to promote vascular formation and healing. In essence, they coat coils used in brain aneurysms in attempt to promote faster aneurysmal healing and improve rates of occlusion in aneurysms treated with coiling.

 

Although Maggie is involved in many extracurricular activities, she says serving as chief editor of Inquiro, UAB’s official undergraduate research journal, has been the most time-consuming, stressful, and most rewarding. Inquiro’s purpose is to celebrate the outstanding achievements of UAB’s undergraduate researchers, and Maggie’s role as an editor is to delegate tasks to the editorial board, maintain frequent communication with administration, and shape the content of the journal to ensure that published content is diverse, interesting, and representative of the impressive undergraduate research at UAB. When asked about her responsibilities with Inquiro, Maggie stated, “... needless to say, the responsibilities associated with being the chief editor of this journal are incredibly daunting. Yet, I have found that serving as chief editor is made entirely possible because of the incredible group of people that serve on Inquiro’s editorial board. No other student-run organization that I have been involved with has been led by a group of people that are more passionate and creative than Inquiro’s editorial board. It should also be made clear that Inquiro does not just belong to the editors or the editorial board, but to all of UAB’s community of undergraduate researchers; thus, we at Inquiro encourage you to make a contribution to the journal, your undergraduate research journal, with a manuscript or cover art submission.”

 

In addition to the regular STH coursework, Maggie has previously enrolled in the Clinical Rotations and Innovations course in the summer of 2015. When asked about her experience, Maggie commented, “If you have any interest at all in innovation and design, I strongly encourage you to check out the STH 394 course. Using curricula from Stanford and his background in engineering, Dr. Joel Berry has created a unique opportunity for aspiring innovators by not only walking them through the first stages of the innovation process, but also immersing them in an environment in which the need for innovation is vast. While my initial expectations for the course were met as anticipated, I also underwent more multi- faceted, unexpected effects that made me redefine my ideas of medical advancements and even reevaluate my career and academic goals. It seems strange that such different paradigm shifts in thinking could occur simultaneously because of a class but apparently this kind of outcome is made possible when a person is immersed in various high-strung environments, such as the inside of an operating room (OR) during an open bypass surgery.”

A Summer at Oxford

by Ameen Barghi

September 30, 2016

I spent my time this summer in Oxford reading for a Masters of Public Policy (MPP). Whilst at Oxford, I was the first author of an Elsevier textbook chapter on multiple sclerosis focusing on rehabilitation techniques. Outside of the classroom, I was able to participate in college rowing, chairing the 2016 Rhodes Ball, traveling around Europe, and the British Universities Karting Championship. Post Oxford, I have begun my medical training at Harvard Medical School and am currently working on bioethics in health policy initiatives, particularly in healthcare accessibility and affordability measures.

Biochemistry Research in Gottingen, Germany

by Bliss Chang

September 30, 2016

This past year, I had the privilege of conducting structural biochemistry research at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, Germany. At the world's leading Nuclear Magnetic Resonance facility, I was able to use the copious resources to learn cutting edge techniques and answer questions that I otherwise could not regarding the structural features of a gigantic ternary protein complex involved in Alzheimer's disease. Though the youngest member of my department, I thoroughly enjoyed my time surrounded by a wonderful community of graduate students and postdocs that constantly challenged and supported each other. Outside the lab, I enjoyed playing table tennis at the city club with some very phenomenal players and sightseeing attractions such as castles and medieval churches. I highly recommend a trip to Germany, whether short or long term. You won't be disappointed! In July, I returned to the States to pursue an MD/PhD at Harvard Medical School. I look forward to the challenges, friends, and laughs that lie ahead.

IRES Program Research in the Czech Republic and Poland

by Ashlen Kurre

September 30, 2016

For ten weeks of this past summer, I was one of five students to be chosen for the IRES program of UAB. We worked closely with Dr. Stanishevsky to do electrospinning-related research utilizing biology, physics, chemistry, and engineering in the Czech Republic and Poland. When we weren't working with our Czech and Polish colleagues, we were able to visit several different countries, including Croatia, Italy, Germany, France, and Austria. Overall, it was an incredible experience that I highly recommend to anyone wanting to do very productive research and travel abroad. It was truly an experience that I will never forget!

NSF REU Research in Hungary

by Emily Quarato

September 30, 2016

This year, I was chosen to be one of two students working on chemistry related research for the Bronze Age Körös Off-Tell Archaeology (BAKOTA) Project. Chemistry is becoming widely utilized in the archaeological field as a means to approaching several different challenges. The Békés (pronounced Bae-kaesh) 103 site is where I spent my summer working with many cremated burials. Since we work with cremated beings, to the naked eye, one would believe not much is left for us as archaeologists to study. However, several recent studies reveal that burned bones retain some in vivo values worthy of study. Along with my mentor, Dr. Julia Giblin, we are working to uncover the reason for the preservation of these in vivo values.

Outside of the research setting, Hungary is an amazing and beautiful country! Though it is a rather small country (Alabama is larger by almost 40k km2), Hungary’s size doesn’t limit the amazing variety of sights to see. During the five weeks I spent in Hungary, I was able to visit about 10-15 towns, villages, and cities and eat a variety of native food dishes from goulash to fruit soup, which were both interesting in taste and appearance. Thanks to the National Science Foundation, I have learned a lot about my own research and about Hungary as a country. I look forward to returning to Hungary, hopefully in the near future!

Immune System Involvement in Cancer Metastasis

by Nicholas Boyle

June 30, 2016

For my senior thesis project, I made the decision to undertake a literature review. My goal was to branch out of my comfort zone and learn about something I wished I had formally studied earlier in my undergraduate career. This was dually advantageous for me, as I had the opportunity to learn about a topic useful to my future studies, and due to difficulties in data collection, it allowed me to more thoroughly exhibit the breadth of knowledge I gained during my four years with the Science and Technology Honors Program. 

 

The title of my thesis was “Cancer, Metastasis, and the Immune System”. I drew some preliminary knowledge from my previous research experiences, where I studied both carcinogenesis through DNA damage as well as specific ligands that could be used to induce metastasis in cancerous cells. The novelty to me however was the involvement of the immune system. My knowledge of the immune system was very limited, as I had only touched on it in introductory biology courses, and “delving into the literature” only gave me more questions than it did answers. I had to start from introductory biology books and learn the basics before I could even begin to figure out what the advanced literature was telling me. The process was in essence a big puzzle, which was fascinating to me. The more I studied and read, the more the pieces came together.

 

Overall, working on this project taught me an entirely new level of “self-study”. My completed project was a culmination of countless hours of study, and I had learned so much from the experience. For anyone who feels that his or her research experiences do not sufficiently show the amount learned while in the lab, I strongly encourage pursuing an alternate thesis. It is an opportunity for both personal and professional growth, and taught me more about the process of learning than any class I have ever taken beforehand.

A Month in El Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet de Zaragoza

by James Sexton

June 30, 2016

At the start of May, I travelled to Madrid, Spain for an orientation on the Spanish healthcare system in order to prepare myself for a life changing shadowing experience. I had applied to a program called The Atlantis Project, which sends students to different locations all around the world to shadow in various hospital departments. The following Monday, I was in a bus and on my way to the city of Zaragoza in northern Aragon.

 

The site I visited was home of the largest trauma center in the region. I had the opportunity to do three rotations in the Neurosurgery (Neurocirugia), Ophthalmology (Oftalmologia), and Orthopedic Trauma Surgery (Trauma Ortopédico) Departments. I was able to observe several surgeries and consultations while being immersed in Spanish culture. My most profound experience was witnessing a high- grade glioma removal, which took seven hours and the combined efforts of five different surgeons to complete.

 

One of the neurosurgeons, Dr. Namdi Elenwoke of Nigeria, took me out to dinner later that night and explained an important point about having these experiences as an undergraduate. He said, “No matter what your concern is now, whether it be financial, career uncertainty, or simply course load, the experiences you have now can never be taken from you.” These words resonate with me, because no matter what the future holds, I know that the things I have learned will influence the decisions I make and help define who I am. I strongly encourage other students, especially in the STH Program, to look into shadowing abroad.

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