T H E N I H C A T A L Y S T | S E P T E M B E R O C T O B E R 2000 |
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POSTCARDS FROM THE CUTTING EDGE
OF SUMMER RESEARCH
Dear FranOnce again I was humbled by the sheer creative brilliance and energy that abounded at Poster Daythe annual display of research by NIH summer students. These kids are awesome! Its Aug. 3, and Im having a great time! Wish you were here! Celia
Postcard 1Type B Insulin Resistance; Preceptor: Elif Arioglu, NIDDK Melissa Bell, on the right, a 2nd-year medical student at the University of Oklahoma, talks about her diabetes research with LaShawn Drew, acting director of the NIH Academy. Bell said the thing that surprised her most about research here was all the rare diabetes-related syndromes she encountered. She wants to continue studying insulin resistance and says she would love to come back to NIH. |
Postcard 2The Use of TCR Rearrangement Excision Circles (TRECs) as an Indicator of Immune Reconstitution in HIV-infected Patients Receiving HAART Therapy; Preceptor: Mark Dybul, NIDDK Joshua Vásquez, an undergraduate in his junior year at the University of Wisconsin, was really excited about his research on a possible method for measuring reconstitution of the immune system in HIV patients. This guy has known since junior high that he wants to study HIV. . . .Plans to get an MD-Ph.D and will be back next summer. In this shot hes talking to Arlyn Garcia-Perez, assistant director of the Office of Intramural Research. Vásquez was in the Undergraduate Scholarship Program. He says two great things about NIH were the accessibility of scientists hereeveryone was happy to talk to himand the close proximity of basic and clinical research. In addition to his basic research with Mark Dybul, he was able to do some other clinically oriented work with Michael Polis. |
Postcard 3Effect of Nitric Oxide Inhalation on Response to Vascular Injury; Preceptor: Richard O. Cannon III, NHLBI Sharleen St-Surin, on the left, from Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., is going into her second year of medical school. St-Surins work with Mark Gladwin of the CC and Betsy Nabel and others in NHLBI looked at NO gas as a treatment to reduce neointimal proliferation after vascular injury. This injury response may play a role in early restenosis after angioplasty or stent placement to open up atherosclerotic arteries. St-Surin found that NO after two weeks of inhalation was effectively taken up and transported via Fe2+ in hemoglobin over the two-week experiment with a mouse model. As usual, one summer wasnt enough to get all the data, but others will continue the work . . . and St-Surin says she hopes to come back to NIH after she passes her boards. In this shot, St-Surin talks to Deborah Cohen of the Office of Education. Cohen played a lead role in organizing Poster Day. |