Duke University | Howard Hughes Undergraduate Program

I'd like to first thank all the faculty members who presented their research at the Howard Hughes seminars over these past 8 weeks. While not every topic held a great interest for me personally, it was amazing to get a glimpse at the endless amount of scientific questions there are to be answered. It also introduced me to the various paths you can take within the sciences field. One of the most important things I took away from the seminars was that if you can find something you're passionate about, you can make a career out of it. There are an infinite amount of possibilities to explore and you should take the opportunity to explore as many as you like. It is nice to fondly look back on this research experience and I am glad the seminars were included as a part of the program.

 This summer has given me a lot of time to think about what I want to do with my life. This research opportunity has opened another door of possibility and a field I wouldn't have previously considered. It's difficult to know whether you're making decisions based upon what you want or what you think you want. I hope as I explore more research, health professions and other science-related careers I can narrow my focus and be positive about the track I want to pursue. 

Last week as a group the Howard Hughes Fellows watched the movie “And the Band Played On” and it told the story of the outbreak of the HIV virus and the subsequent battle to identify the virus, create a blood test for it, and then take the credit for it. The topic for discussion that was brought up by this movie is the dishonesty of taking credit for someone else’s [research] work in order to reap the benefits and glory that comes with it. Based on the real events that happened with this outbreak in the 70s, the American researcher Dr. Robert Gallo, having already been the first scientist to discover a retro virus, stole research and the actual identity of the virus order to gain more notoriety and fame. It is a shame that research at this day and age has become about taking credit just as much, if not more, than it is about helping people. I feel as though research of this nature should not be conducted just to be the first one to do so, but just to get done in order to help the thousands of people who were dying.  I am not naive in saying that everyone should have this altruistic view of their work, recognition for a job well done is essential in motivating people to continue working hard. I would certainly want credit if I had been the first to discover a new retrovirus that has spread across the country, but the idea of taking someone else’s work in order to gain that recognition is atrocious. While working in a lab this summer, I have seen every day how hard these people work and the long hours they put in to try to advance scientific knowledge and for someone to falsely take credit, it’s hard to forgive. Whenever conducting research you should always have RCR in mind, because you wouldn’t want someone else to commit that kind of fraud against you.

Hang on- it’s a long one!

It is the end of week 3, and I could write a book on how much I’ve learned over this time that has gone so quickly. Slowly I’ve become more independent in the lab being able to carry myself with confidence and complete my task without the security blanket of my mentor presiding over my every move. Last week I observed as a doctoral student in my lab performed surgeries on her rats to implant the electrodes that will be used for stimulation. With my overall career goal being to become a neurosurgeon, this was especially interesting to me and hopefully one day I will be able to try my hand at implantation.

So far I have been working slightly backwards on my quest to contribute to the alleviation the devastating side effects of Parkinson’s disease. My job for the past 2 weeks has been working as a histologist (histology is the post-mortem examination of tissue and cell). I spent my time analyzing brain tissue samples from previous rats that have been lesioned to simulate the effect of Parkinson’s disease and then treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS). The brain sections are only 50 micron thick, nearly transparent and extremely fragile and learning to handle them was my first challenging task.

To analyze the tissue we treat the samples with different stains to tag different areas we are interested in. We use a nuclear stain to tag the areas of the brain that are heavily nucleated or dense with neurons (the area of the brain that we aim to place the electrode well nucleated) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining to tag the protein tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), which is a precursor to dopamine, the neurotransmitter that controls motor function). The nuclear stain is a rather simple process, but the IHC staining is a grueling and very specific 3-day process of incubation periods and PBS washes all in the hopes of seeing brown spots on your brain tissue in the end. After the samples are stained we can use the microscope to identify the different areas of the brain and find the track of the DBS electrodes and see if they were places properly. While examining my tissue I was able to get some very successful stains that showed the lesions in the brain as well as the areas that were producing high amounts of TH. See picture below:

(brown is TH and purple areas are nucleated)

Although it required a lot of patience, seeing the finished product was very rewarding and I even got a hearty good job from my mentor after he examined the samples. I look forward to getting more experience and lab work done as we begin behavioral studies and analysis of a new batch of rats that have just finished recovering from surgery. I’ll keep you posted =)

 This summer participating in the Howard Hughes Research Fellows program is my first time conducting research and I am very excited. Since being accepted into the program I have looked forward to beginning my summer of growing in skill and knowledge. Because I have never participated in research before, I'm not quite sure what to expect from the experience and this adds to my anxiousness to get started. I do hope that this summer I will really be able to feel as though I am a part of the lab and learn how to be an important contributer to the group. I want to get hands-on experience and be able to learn various techniques that will make me more skilled to work in a lab in the future. My overall goal for the summer is to gain confidence in my abilities as an establishing scientist and be able to feel at home in a lab. I hope the experience is a positive one and that I can continue to do research as a part of my undergraduate studies here at Duke University.