Showcase

Mice are common models in biomedical research. Researchers must be properly trained in technical skills before working with mice for the benefit of both animal welfare and successful research outcomes. Training takes a couple of sessions for each per ... son to be competent in all the basic skills. Currently there is no standard amount of rest required for the rodents between sessions, which leaves room for overuse of the animal. Our goal is to determine an appropriate timeline of recovery from the training courses so institutions can better care for the rodents in the training colony. Our research design recreates the mouse basic and advanced training courses, and the subsequent stress response was analyzed through fecal samples to measure corticosterone (the stress hormone in rodents). When the stress levels return to baseline it was assumed the animal was ready for their next training session. We also sent out a survey to institutions to better understand their training course standards to determine the relevance of our study. Read more

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women. Approximately 290,000 new cases were diagnosed in 2022 and about 43,000 women will die. The standard of care for determining treatment is evaluating the expression of ER (estrogen receptors) ... , PR (progesterone receptors), and Her2 in the initial biopsy. The majority of breast cancers are hormonally driven and are positive for ER and PR. About 25% of breast cancers are now classified as Her2 positive. The recent approval of new breast cancer drugs in 2022 has led to a reclassification of 0, +1, +2 (low) and 3 positive Her2 expression. Previously 60% of Her2 cases showed a low level of Her2 expression. In this study we evaluated approximately 750 breast cancers with Her2 expression over the last 20 years and divided them into low and positive Her2 expression. In this study, we saw 646 negatives, 58 lows, and 53 positives. There are two new treatments targeting people who have low Her2 expression which have a high risk of cancer returning. In early studies, treatment with either of these two drugs have shown that the chances of breast cancer returning is diminishing. Read more

The Social Determinants of Health Team at Eskenazi Health aims to decrease health inhibiting factors such as food insecurity, diaper need, and transportation by making resources more accessible. The Crooked Creek Food Pantry is available for use to e ... very patient at Eskenazi Pecar Clinic and the surrounding area. Over the course of my internship, I have surveyed the very culturally diverse patients at Pecar Clinic about their food preferences. Over 300 surveys have been collected and recorded. This data will be used to procure additional food options that suit the interest of those who use Cooked Creek Food Pantry. As of now, the food preference survey is available in both English and Spanish, but three additional languages are being approved to make the process of surveying different demographics easier. We are also now in the process of trying to find an international grocery store to partner with in order to fulfill the wants of our patients. Read more

Although adolescent pregnancy rates have decreased, the US continues to have one of the highest adolescent birth rates among high income countries. In rural Indiana, teen pregnancy prevention programs are not widely implemented in health education. L ... ittle is known about what types of teen pregnancy prevention programs exist, what are the needs for programming, and what are the community challenges with implementation. I plan to explore community needs around reproductive health education and what are the challenges and facilitators to implementation by interviewing stakeholders in rural counties. My questions will include information around reproductive health education. I will record and transcribe the interviews and then conduct thematic analysis. And I will share the summary of findings with our community partner, Health Care Education and Training. Read more

The spinal cord is a critical part of the central nervous system that facilitates communication between the brain and the body. The Yadav lab is researching the use of spinal cord stimulation to enhance sensory perception. This involves stimulating r ... odent models in different patterns to produce different sensations that can be easily interpreted by the nervous system. The rats are trained to distinguish these patterns through operant conditioning. Through this research, the Yadav lab hopes to develop stimulation-based therapies that can be used to explore sensory pathways for brain machine interfaces and neuroprosthetics. By advancing our understanding of how spinal cord stimulation can improve nervous system function, this research may lead to new treatments for people with neurological conditions. Read more

This project aimed to define the term bidirectionality and determine how it is being incorporated into pediatric residency programs in the United States. This was a cross-sectional, REDCap-based survey with an online setting. Global health faculty or ... staff at US pediatric residency programs, identified by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), with global health partnerships within their programs were contacted to participate. Out of the 199 programs that were contacted, 24 were willing to give their feedback. Results concluded that a bidirectional global health partnership is a collaboration between two institutions that utilizes trainees to mutually benefit both programs. Participants also shared that a bidirectional partnership is an equal sharing of resources, knowledge, and decision making for the partnership. The feedback suggested that the main benefits of maintaining bidirectional global health partnerships include building relationships, promoting mutual respect, and gaining knowledge from different perspectives. These partnerships are often hindered by limited resources, cultural differences, and communication challenges. The responses from this study indicated that many organizations' partnerships are already successful and bidirectional. As work continues to improve these partnerships, current challenges need to be addressed in order to create the best global health partnerships possible. Read more

Neurogenetic testing is a widespread used method in medical practice to diagnose patients with neurogenetic disorders. Testing allows for physicians to better treat patients, understand the causes of a disorder, and see what can be expected in the fu ... ture for a patient in terms of progression and symptoms. Different types of genetic testing are conducted based upon a patient's family history and symptoms present. I have collaborated with genetic counselors to create patient care handouts so patients can gain a better understanding on why they are receiving genetic testing, the different types of genetic testing, and what their results mean. Read more

Germ granules are membraneless organelles that regulate gene expression in the reproductive cells of multicellular animals. Despite their prevalence, we still know little about how germ granules assemble and how assembly affects their function. P gra ... nules are the germ granules of the Caenorhabditis elegans nematode worm that assemble just outside the nucleus. P granule assembly is driven by PGL-1, a structural protein that pairs up to form dimers. The mechanism of how PGL-1 dimers interact with each other to form higher ordered granule structures is unknown. I am analyzing what regions of the PGL-1 protein are required for P granule assembly and function. Using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, I am creating mutant C. elegans worms with deleted PGL-1 protein regions. This will allow me to determine which regions of the PGL-1 protein are necessary to form P granules through various experimental methods. Performing research in simpler model organisms will give broader insight into the assembly and function of germ granules in other, more complicated, multicellular animals, like humans. Read more

Sickle Cell disease is a condition that affects approximately 100,000 individuals in the United States. Of the individuals, many of them are Black and come from low-income neighborhoods where healthcare isn't easily accessible. This internship site i ... ite is researching how we can help further the education system for healthcare and mental healthcare. At our site, we are determining associations of pain-related injustice, sickle cell stigma, and perceptions of racism in Black youth with sickle cell disease. Read more

Depression occurs more commonly in adolescents with diabetes, and during the COVID-19 pandemic even more adolescents struggled with depressive symptoms. The objective of my project is to evaluate the difference in depressive symptoms in adolescents ... with type 1- or type 2 diabetes mellitus. The outcomes measures include depressive symptoms, as measured with the standardized Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) that is completed during diabetes clinic visits. Results of the PHQ-9 will be measured as a numerical value. Descriptive statistics (age, race, sex) will be performed for youth aged 14-17 years with either type 1- or type 2 diabetes. Comparisons for depression scores, body mass index (BMI), and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) will be performed using T-tests. I hypothesize that youth with type 1 diabetes are more inclined to report depression symptoms in comparison to those with type 2 diabetes due to its onset and treatment at an early age. Read more