Department of Physiology celebrates undergraduate and high school students’ summer research projects
The Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Physiology hosted 30 undergraduate and high school students who took advantage of research programs for students during the summer semester, culminating in the department’s 11th annual Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium held Aug. 8.
“Summer research opportunities are provided to allow undergraduate students to be involved in cutting-edge biomedical research,” said Joseph Dunbar, Ph.D., professor and the William T. Traitel Endowed Chair of the Department of Physiology. “These types of opportunities allow Wayne State University to encourage the next generation of biomedical scientists.”
The symposium showcased research completed by students who participated in various programs, including the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, or SURF PSL; Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Cancer Biology; Research Experience for Undergraduates, or REU, by the Summer Academy for Sustainable Manufacturing; the ReBuild/McNair program and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, or UROP, as well as volunteer participants with no program affiliation.
“Southeast Michigan has college students in a number of other universities around the country, and WSU gives them an opportunity when they are home to continue their scholarly work,” Dr. Dunbar said. “The students learn the ingredients of how to ask questions and how to go about structuring investigations into these curiosities on how the research world works.”
College participants included students from Wayne State, Michigan State University, the College of New Jersey, University of California Davis and more.
High school participants included juniors and seniors from the metropolitan Detroit area.
The presentations were judged by graduate students Kehinde Adeshina, Dylan Kissane, Afoluso Olayonwa and Mike Pedersen.
“The caliber of the research was excellent. It clearly demonstrated the degree of engagement of the students in their scholarly work. It also reflects the support and involvement of their faculty mentors,” Dr. Dunbar said.
The winners are:
ORAL PRESENTATIONS:
First place: Anna Park, high school volunteer, mentored by Dr. Patrick Mueller, for “Preclinical Study Toward Treatment for Hypertension”
Second place: Freya Nath, from SURF PSL, mentored by Dr. Patrick Mueller, for “Sex-Based Impact of Physical Activity on Anatomical Size of Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla (RVLM)”
Third place: Orena Koka, from SURF PSL, mentored by Dr. Mariana Angoa-Perez, for “From Gut to Brain: The Microbiome’s Role in Oxycodone Consumption”
POSTER PRESENTATIONS:
First place: Anna Kadish, undergraduate volunteer, mentored by Dr. Patrick Mueller, for “Quantification and Localization of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and GRIN1 in Catecholaminergic (C1) Neurons in the Traditional (caudal) Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla (RVLM) in Sedentary and Active Male Sprague Dawley Rats”
Second place: Aditi Kulkarni, from UROP (Pharmaceutical Sciences), mentored by Dr. Andrew Lipchik, for “The Characterization of a Cadmium Specific Hexapeptide Chelator for the Detoxification of Cadmium”
Third place: Muataz Hizam, from REU, mentored by Jeremy Rickli, for “Evaluating Sequence Efficiency in Single vs Dual Cobot Disassembly”