University of Utah Medical Center, CARMA

The last year of volunteering with CARMA has been an exceptional opportunity. I have met many amazing people, learned a couple great new skills, and expanded my knowledge of the medical research world immensely. The first six months were hard trying to accustom myself to CorView and to my team, complete my training, and try to figure out a good schedule to get up to Salt Lake but I enjoyed every moment and all the stress was worth it in the end. The last six months have been awesome, especially these last couple summer months that I’ve just been able to dedicate myself entirely to working with my team.

 I always knew that there is need for repetition in science to confirm a study, but I never realized how hard it is to work through all that repetition wondering if it is going to produce a result. Part of it is fun and exhilarating, but it’s mostly just stressful! The significance of this experience for me has been a big one. I feel like I have boosted my self-esteem when it comes to making a difference, being knowledgeable about something, and working on a team. Seeing something that I’m doing have a direct impact on the health of others is very rewarding and something I hope to do all my life. I also came to know some things about myself. I realized that, although I like many aspects research, I miss the face to face interactions that come with working in other areas of the medical field. I spent many hours alone in the office working on whatever project was at hand and I always felt a relief to get out and about afterwards.

 I think the biggest benefit that this internship has had for me is that it has helped me realize that I can do great things. I can be a part of an idea that makes a difference for others. I can think of new ways to improve healthcare. I can work in an important team. I wouldn’t trade this experience, if feel like it has really shaped my life in a very wonderful way.
-Tyson 

Bethesda, MD: TBI Research At USUHS -Joseph

Snap-frozen mouse brain being sectioned
in a Cryostat at 40µm.

Mouse being exposed to a moderate
 dose of HIFU.

This summer I worked in a lab of military medical school in Maryland just north of DC called Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS). I helped explore the impact of low and moderate non-penetrating blast induced Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) after exposure to stress (restraint) in mice. It was wonderful exposure to lab life and how research works.  It also was quite difficult and I felt like my learning curve the entire summer was quite steep. I would highly recommend it though to those interested in getting a PhD in neuroscience or other sciences.
 For more information visit: http://www.usuhs.mil/

Austin, Texas: Summer Undergraduate Research Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center -Steven

This summer I had the privilege of spending 10 weeks working in Austin, Texas in a birth defects research laboratory.

The internship is funded by a grant jointly awarded to the MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas at Austin to encourage research in the biomedical sciences. I worked in the Finnell Birth Defects Research Laboratory located in the Dell Pediatric Research Institute on the University of Texas at Austin campus.

I worked with two post-doctoral fellows and the principal investigator, Dr. Richard H. Finnell on the characterization of the LMO6 Knockout Mouse Model. We found that C57BL/6 LMO6 knockout mice on folate deficient diets presents with some cases of microphthalmia.

As part of the internship we attend a weekly lunch lecture series developed by campus postdoctoral fellows to introduce basic scientific topics such as Molecular Carcinogenesis, animal models, molecular biology, flow cytometry and emerging analytic techniques.

About every other week there was a field trip of some sort. These included touring the Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine on the Bastrop campus, visiting the main MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, an ice cream social, and several other get togethers.

During the last week of the internship I presented the results of my summer research in one of the weekly lab meetings in the Finnell Lab. On the last day of the internship each intern presented a talk describing his or her research results as part of the SURP Scientific Symposium.

It was a wonderful opportunity to learn and be able to complete a research project through an internship hosted by a prestigious research university and a prestigious hospital. MD Anderson Cancer Center has been ranked the #1 cancer hospital in the country for the past six years¹ and University of Texas at Austin was ranked No. 30 on a list of the best 100 universities in the world².

I would recommend this internship to anyone interested in biomedical sciences research.

Analyzing embryo cells using the Operetta

Mouse dissection and embryo collection

Finnell Birth Defects Research Laboratory
Summer 2012

For more information on this internship:
Visit: http://sciencepark.mdanderson.org/outreach/students/undergrad/
View this year's SURP Brochure.