+ where: Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, USA
+ with who: Dr Kathryn Swoboda, Dr Christiano Alves + main project: Exploration on the role of blood component metabolism on the pathology of SMA + role: research technician Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a genetic disease which leads to the rapid degradation of the neuron to muscle connection, and by extension the inability to move or develop regularly. Disease progression and severity depends on multiple factors, the most known one being the number of a 'rescue gene' (SMN2 copies). SMA develops quickly in children if the copy number is low, but can show symptoms in adulthood if the copy number is higher. Typical onset is within a few months of birth, where infants will show a weak cry, decreased ability to move, or a slow down of their regular motor development. The Swoboda lab works with patients to provide treatment and find the most effective cures for the disease. I have been part of the team since June 2019, and have been involved with several projects and conferences, expanding my knowledge of clinic research and research skills. Published works: + Exercise training reverses cancer-induced oxidative stress and decrease in muscle COPS2/TRIP15/ALIEN + Whole‐blood dysregulation of actin‐cytoskeleton pathway in adult spinal muscular atrophy patients + Whole Blood SMN Protein Levels Correlate with Severity of Denervation in Spinal Muscular Atrophy + where: Collaborative Experimental Design and Analytics workshop, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
+ with who: Professors Clandinin (Stanford University), Van Vactor (Harvard Medical School), Silies (European Neuroscience Institute) + main project: Exploration on the effect of the interactions between reward and pain pathways on locomotion + role: research designer and participant During August 2018, I was invited to CEDA to work on Drosophila larvae with a team of 8 scientists from various backgrounds coming from all over the globe. We designed three projects looking at the impact of various sensory input on the locomotion of the larvae, including mixing pain and reward perception. Throughout the week we also attended workshop on data statistics and analytics, and gave a presentation of our findings to professors and students of the graduate school. + where: Bahn Lab, 생명시스템대학, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
+ with who: Yong-sun Bahn, PhD, Medical Mycology/Fungal Molecular Biology and Genetics/Genomics + main project: gene deletion in the reproductive pathways of Cryptoccocus Neoformans + role: research intern, mutant creator under graduate student Jin Young Kim During the summer of 2017 (June through August), I had the opportunity to work with Professor Bahn and learn more about medical mycology and genomics in practice. I worked under graduate student Jin Young Kim, who studies the reproductive pathway of C. neoformans. The main goal of the Bahn lab is to characterize the signaling pathways of the fungus so as to understand its pathogenecity. I was responsible for the deletion of transcription factors in C. neoformans for later phenotypic analysis. Additionally I was able to understand the current research on the invasion and crossing of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and what advances the Bahn lab has made in this area. + where: Dickinson Lab, Bowdoin College
+ with who: Patsy Dickinson, PhD, Physiology and Neuroscience + main project: Study of the cardiac neuromuscular system response to C-type allatostatin isoforms in American lobster + role: volunteer researcher, helping honor students with their projects During the spring of 2017, I volunteered in the Dickinson Lab to learn about the effects of physiology on neuroscience and understand how to work on independent projects in a laboratory. Although I was responsible for multiple tasks in the lab such as clean up, dissections and material generation, my main project was to partner with Sovannarath Pong, an honors student. Sovannarath was working to identify the different responses of the cardiac neuromuscular system when various isoforms of C-type allatostatin were injected in it. The cardiac rhythm was recorded after the various injections in an attempt to discern a pattern of whether a certain isoform cause an increase of decrease in cardiac activity. The goal of this project was to lay ground work for the determination of the role of the allatostatin receptors in the cardiac neuromuscular system. |