2022年8月2日
The Summer Undergraduate Program in Eye 研究 (SUPER) at 十大菠菜台子 held its 20th 将于7月29日星期五举行年度学生研究研讨会.
The highly selective 12-week program allows students to perform research on the causes and potential cures for eyes diseases — such as glaucoma, 糖尿病性视网膜病变, 色素性视网膜炎, 老年性黄斑变性, and very rare inherited retinal diseases in infants — with guidance from faculty members in the university’s 眼科研究所 (ERI).
使用最新的科学方法和设备, students spent 30 hours per week conducting lab experiments and attending a weekly Vision Science seminar given by ERI and Beaumont Ophthalmology faculty. 这些学生还获得了研究奖学金, as well as training in professional speaking and presentation.
“We usually have five to seven students in the program and applications from OU undergraduate students are accepted through the ERI website each January,”医生说。. Kenneth Mitton, who has served as director of SUPER since 2003. “While some of our labs still had some undergraduate assistants, 自2019年以来，大流行使我们无法运行该项目.
“This has been a very successful restart of the full program, which has seen over 100 OU undergraduates get real-world research training experience and training in scientific communication,米顿补充道. “Students in the program have also had access to weekly ERI Summer Vision and Biomedical Science presentations from ERI faculty and Ophthalmic surgeons from the Ophthalmology Department of the Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.”
今年的超级学生包括:
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| 加布里埃尔Abdelmessih, 亚历山大·塞德尔, Yasmeen哈桑, and 保罗Negoita |
• 保罗Negoita, a senior who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in biology. 他的导师是约翰博士. 生物科学副教授塔菲克说.
“在我们的实验室里, we are doing research on the retina and looking at cell pathology of how elevated homocysteine levels in the blood can cause 老年性黄斑变性 (AMD),“Negoita. “I am very interested in learning lab techniques and concepts that will allow me to possibly research other diseases in the future.”
• 加布里埃尔Abdelmessih, a senior who is pursuing a BSc degree in biomedical sciences while minoring in journalism. 她的导师是约翰博士. Kenneth Mitton, an associate professor of biomedical sciences.
“We are currently sequencing eight genes involved in rare pediatric retinal diseases to understand the contribution of both rare and common genetic factors in their development,Abdelmessih说. “作为一个渴望成为医生的人, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the clinical applications of next generation sequencing.”
• Yasmeen哈桑, a senior who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) degree in electrical engineering while minoring in biology. 她的导师是约翰博士. 张道奇，生物医学副教授.
“My research focused on the spontaneous wave activity in the developing retina and how various neurotransmitters can affect this activity throughout development in the mouse model,哈桑说. “I also studied the direction selectivity feature of retinal waves and my goal was to determine its origin and mechanism.
“Being interested in working in the medical field while also pursuing an electrical engineering major, it was especially interesting to see who the two fields can intersect to deliver comprehensive results that pertain to physiological function,她补充道。. “I was also able to see the results of my experiments in real time, and in the future I hope to further integrate my background and use software modeling to quantify those results.”
• 亚历山大·塞德尔, a senior who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in pre-medical studies. 他的导师是约翰博士. 安德鲁·F.X. 他是生物医学科学教授.
• “I’ve been working on a new technique to measure mouse cone photoreceptor populations,” Seidel said. “当光线照射到这些感光细胞时，视觉就开始了. My goal is to further refine the technique so I can apply it to studying eye disease.”
Acceptance to the SUPER program is limited to OU students and is based on grades, 叙述, 的职业目标, 一封推荐信和ERI教员的面试. Students learn the basics of research including how to keep a research notebook, 解决问题, 批判性思维, conducting literature searches and preparing a scientific talk. Approximately 75 percent of SUPER graduates go on to medical school or graduate school.
一个ERI超级校友，Nahrain Putris, M.D., is currently starting an ophthalmology residency at Beaumont and is the first 十大菠菜台子 alum to match to this particular location,米顿说. 其他几位SUPER校友都是急诊医生, 眼科医生, 神经外科医生, 药物化学研究科学家, 还有遗传咨询师等等.”
申请这个项目, students submit a personal narrative outlining 的职业目标 and interests, 推荐信, 成绩单和简历. 他们还会接受ERI教员的采访.
Those admitted to the program receive a research fellowship of $4,250. Students also attend a weekly Vision Science seminar given by ERI and Beaumont Ophthalmology faculty and receive training in professional speaking and presentation.
To learn more about the 眼科研究所 at 十大菠菜台子, visit www.奥克兰.edu/eri.