Showcase

Hi! My name is Kate Wagner and I am an intern in Dr. Loghmani's Applied Regenerative Medicine Research lab. The goal of our research is to improve quantifiable soft tissue manipulation (QSTM) techniques in physical therapy and to create clear criteri ... iteria to help train future physical therapists. This work will aid those with injuries or muscle strains that could benefit from soft tissue manipulation and will also help future PT students. Currently, we are analyzing stroke pattern graphs that depict the different forces applied to the patients when our devices are being used. Something cool that we have discovered from looking at these graphs is that the region of the body plays a big role in how the graphs depict the forces. We have also been looking at the way in which each clinician conducts the QSTM strokes, as small differences in things like handhold can cause big changes on the stroke pattern graphs. This could greatly impact how future physical therapists are trained in soft tissue manipulation. Read more

Riley Hospital for Children is the main provider of pediatric HIV care to children and adolescents living with HIV in Indiana. My focus in this internship has been to investigate implementation challenges in HIV testing and care for children and adol ... escents in this setting. This has included collaborating in a retrospective cohort study of children and adolescents with HIV, evaluating trends in HIV diagnoses before and after 2020, and identifying missed opportunities for prevention or earlier testing and treatment. In related work, I am also supporting efforts to increase adolescent HIV testing in the ED setting, and I have developed a set of educational resources for children, adolescents, and families affected by HIV and their providers. This work has included an emphasis on social determinants of health, and addressing quality improvement and clinical challenges that impact pediatric HIV testing and care. As a result of this work, the team at the Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Disease and Global Health hopes to better address needs in this setting to improve adolescent HIV testing and prevention, and address challenges across the prevention and treatment cascades for perinatal and pediatric HIV. Read more

The LHSI research centered on assessing palliative care needs in patients with Parkinson disease. Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that impacts both motor and non-motor symptoms, creating a symptom burden that affects qualit ... uality of life. Since Parkinson's is a progressive disorder, advanced care planning is essential. Advance care planning is a discussion used to prepare for the future and aid physicians in aligning patient preferences and medical interventions to improve their quality of life. Indiana offers several forms to support patients' plans: Health Care Representative (HCR), Power of Attorney (POA), Living Will, and Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST). There is a paucity of advanced care planning in hospital medical records available for admitting physicians to refer to when developing a plan of care. The research project aimed to determine the frequency and patient characteristics associated with patient reports of having advanced care planning and those available in the electronic medical records (EMR). The findings of this research will assist neurologists' knowledge about the patient and clinical characteristics to improve the timing and prevalence of advanced care planning in the future. Read more

Dr. Michelle Miller’s Perinatal Traumatic Stress Lab studies different therapeutic interventions to reduce traumatic stress symptoms in pregnant and postpartum populations. Improved perinatal maternal health may reduce perinatal health complications ... and improve infant health outcomes. The Perinatal Traumatic Stress Lab works to improve maternal health outcomes and prioritized reaching women in rural communities as well as women who may be experiencing discrimination and poverty. One intervention is Perinatal Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), which provides opportunities for pregnant and postpartum women who have experienced extremely stressful or traumatic events to engage in exposure-based therapy so we can study if NET reduces PTS, depressive, and dissociation symptoms. NET is a treatment commonly used for different trauma disorders that aims to help participants learn new ways to cope with their traumatic experiences. Our research provides new means for perinatal women to receive support during their pregnant and postpartum period. Read more

The Latinx community experiences disparities accessing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnostic and intervention services. Research suggests language proficiency and limited ASD knowledge contribute substantial amounts of caregiver stress when recei ... ving an ASD diagnosis and navigating post- diagnostic care. This project describes the experiences of Spanish-speaking Latinx caregivers in obtaining an ASD diagnosis for their child and whether demographic factors influenced responses on a caregiver- report survey. Participants were 12 Spanish-speaking Latinx mothers (M= 41 years, SD=4; M=17 years in US, SD=9; 67% limited or no English proficiency) of 13 children with ASD (M=12 years SD=4; 77% male; 33% mild, 58% moderate, 8% severe ASD impairment) who completed a survey on experiences obtaining an ASD diagnostic evaluation (86 items across 8 domains rated on 4-point Likert scale: “definitely disagree” to “definitely agree”) and demographic questionnaire. Results suggest that Spanish-speaking Latinx communities experience challenges in evidence-based information about ASD and access to post-diagnostic services. These findings highlight the need to develop “plain-language” resources on ASD, obtaining a diagnosis, and next steps information. Spanish-speaking families would also benefit from improved care navigation post-diagnosis. Read more

Bone formation and resorption are conducted, respectively, by bone cells called osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Failure in the functionality of these cells has the potential of causing two main diseases: osteoporosis and osteopetrosis. These diseases, h ... owever, are quite the opposite of each other, with osteoporosis being characterized by weak bone that lacks density, and osteopetrosis being characterized by thick, dense bone. Though some treatment strategies are available in order to combat these diseases (mainly osteoporosis), there is still much more to be learned about their mechanisms and what might affect the cells that control them. The drug 'Kinesore' was chosen to be explored, as studies have shown that it reorganizes the microtubule network of cells, affecting the relative location of different organelles, particularly lysosomes, that play a role in bone resorption. This information provided evidence that the drug would affect the functionality of bone cells. Osteoblasts, from the OB6 cell line, and osteoclasts, from the bone marrow of mice, were treated with three different doses of the drug and a vehicle control, along with conducting a cell proliferation study. After treatment, cell staining and gene expression analysis was performed in order to assess the drug's overall effect. Read more

Our group previously tested whether sub-occipital release (SOR), a muscle relaxation technique used to relieve skeletomuscular problems, affects “fight or flight” body processes like blood flow to the skin. We identified that cold stress decreased sk ... in blood flow and increased a measure of variability associated with the “fight or flight” response, but there was no difference between SOR and a control technique. We previously concluded that SOR is not able to modulate skin blood flow in either normal or cold stress conditions. Our previous analysis used Fast Fourier Transform and spectral power analysis to change the domain (x-axis) of the blood flow data from time to frequency. We binned the frequency data into standard ranges (high, low, and very low frequency) associated with different factors that explain the cause of the variability. However, a second binning system with slightly different ranges is also used for this type of analysis. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that the two systems would have similar results. Both systems identified increases in low frequency spectral power during cold stress, indicating increased “fight or flight” activity. Neither system identified differences between SOR and control techniques. Thus, both systems are appropriate for this research. Read more

The Biospecimen Collection and Banking Core collects healthy and cancerous biospecimen and stores them for researchers to use today, or in the near future. The Biospecimen Collection and Banking Core is embedded within IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer C ... enter and focuses on bringing together patients diagnosed with cancer and healthy individuals with scientists looking for a cure. My day-to-day tasks include observing the process of specimen collection as well as scanning consents into the database. Read more

The goal of this project was to create a website to inform the public about plants that could potentially be dangerous if handled improperly. This website also shows how some of these plants may have medicinal properties and could potentially be used ... for culinary purposes. Read more