Showcase

I will create a PowerPoint presentation over my sole tasks for the Indiana Communities Advancing Recovery Efforts (IN CAREs) ECHO program. During this presentation I will explain the purpose of IN CAREs and what the program entails. I will also descr ... ibe the type of audience for the program. Additionally, I would like to display a mock case document and describe how participants can also use this format to showcase their successes in their respective county. While interning at the IUI ECHO Center, I learned various interchangeable skills when assisting with the other programs. The skills such as case outreach, compiling cases, assessing attendance, and editing recorded meetings were also utilized for the IN CAREs ECHO program. I would like to highlight that all ECHO sessions involve extensive planning and scheduling to be executed. This outline for an ECHO is imperative for the program management specialist, didactic speaker(s), audience, and overall flow for a successful session. Lastly, I intend to explain the “All learn, all teach” model which is at the core of each ECHO session. Read more

The early development of food allergies and eczema has been becoming more prevalent over the decades. Children with eczema are more susceptible to develop food allergies but its mechanisms of development are still not well-understood. The project tha ... t I was involved with was researching specific mechanisms for the initiation of food allergy to find potential targets for therapy. This project consisted of using young mice with skin barrier defects found in eczema (FT +/-, Flaky Tail mice with heterozygous mutations in Flg and TMEM genes) and exposing them to food allergen (peanut extract), environmental allergen (Alternaria Alternata) along with detergent (4% SDS) via the skin to develop food allergy. I was able to help with the skin-sensitization, and another responsibility I had in this food allergy project was genotyping, which is a way to verify a gene’s specific alleles through analyzing DNA sequences. Genotyping is necessary for this project because we needed to generate FT +/- pups as well as other mice with other desired deletions of genes (e.g. IL33, ApoE, Krt14Cre, Col1A2Cre) that are shown to be important in food allergy development through skin sensitization. These mice with deletions will be used to test whether IL33 or ApoE in skin keratinocytes or skin fibroblasts are important for food allergy. This can be used to further understand mechanisms for the initiation of food allergy through both skin exposure and identifying specific factors of risk for skin sensitization. Read more

The LifeRAFT (Lifespan Resilience After Family Trauma) Lab studies how early life stress and family dynamics impact youth behavior outcomes and substance use. Our lab recruits parents who have experienced a traumatic event who have children 10-14 yea ... rs old. The parent and child complete questionnaires, and the child undergoes neuroimaging while completing tasks. The goal of this study is to explore how stress impacts risk for substance use and to eventually use this information to create new treatments for adolescents and their families. Read more

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a condition characterized by high blood glucose levels and metabolic decompensation. DKA serves as a potentially fatal complication of diabetes, and it has significant short-term and long-term health consequences. Withi ... n the patient population followed by our Endocrinology Program, 7-10% of patients with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) on public insurance are admitted to the hospital/emergency department annually for severe hyperglycemia or DKA. Therefore, my research project utilizes retrospective chart review of pediatric patients in DKA or HHS to address the factors that influence DKA development. Based upon this retrospective chart review, we hope to identify additional support that can be offered to at-risk youth and families, in order to improve blood glucose management and reduce the risk of hospitalization. Read more

At the Hulvershorn Lab, our mission is to understand the mysteries of the brain mechanisms and environmental factors that drive youth to make risky decisions. We aim to identify the most impactful physiological and environmental factors that affect h ... ow the adolescent brain interacts with different choices and the impact of these choices on youth health in the future to foresee the likelihood of developing diseases that will negatively affect the quality of life (like substance use disorder). We investigate the underlying brain mechanisms driving these behaviors through functional MRI scans and risky decision-making tasks. We then follow up with participants longitudinally following a prospective cohort research model to track their changes as they grow older into adulthood. This work is very important because it directly influences the well-being of high-risk youth with a family history of substance use disorder, offering insights that will help develop more specific interventions and preventive strategies as we move into the era of personalized medicine, ultimately leading to healthier life trajectories for adolescents. Read more

Kacena lab focuses on multiple aspects of bone healing in aging and Alzheimer’s disease to see how new treatments improve pain and fracture healing. Animal models capturing different disease states are used for translational research. Kacena lab uses ... different mouse models to study fracture healing and pain outcomes. Genotyping is the technique used to ascertain if the mice have the desired genetic mutations in them. I have contributed by genotyping different strains of mice by extracting DNA from the tissue and performing PCR analysis to determine if the correct mutation is present. I also helped with x-ray imaging for fractured mice and whole blood analysis. The LHSI program helped me to further my knowledge in translational research and challenge myself to learn additional skills in a laboratory setting. Read more

My internship has focused on cachexia, a progressive wasting disease prevalent in cancer patients. Along with body weight loss, patients with cachexia display musculoskeletal wasting, weakness, and fatigue, thus impairing their quality of life. The m ... ain project of my internship has focused on the exacerbation of cachexia due to the presence of liver metastases. While it is known that liver metastases amplifies cachexia, the mechanisms remain poorly understood. Building on recent work from my lab, we investigated whether liver metastases exacerbated musculoskeletal wasting in a mouse model of lung cancer. This project affords the lab an opportunity to examine the impact of cancer cells on the liver and the resultant secretory changes induced by liver metastases. In addition to assessing changes in body weight, muscle mass, and muscle function, we also determined molecular changes in skeletal muscle. Various techniques analyzed molecular differences at the gene and protein level including RT-qPCR and western blotting. Additionally, skeletal muscle staining and imaging assesses the fiber size changes. As the project progresses, the aim is identifying proteins secreted from the liver and/or tumor that cause exacerbation of cachexia. This undertaking holds significant importance for identifying potential future targets secreted by the liver and tumor. Read more

The Aoki lab utilizes CRISPR/Cas-9 technology to edit the genetic code of the roundworm, C. elegans, to study the function of RNA-protein complexes. In humans, reproductive cells contain germ granules, which are also referred to as RNA-protein comple ... xes. These germ granules contain various RNAs and proteins involved in germ line identity, maintenance, and fertility. In C. elegans, P granules are synonymous with the germ granules in humans. The P granules' formation depends on the PGL family of proteins. However, the molecular function of PGL proteins remains unclear. Here, we use CRISPR/Cas-9 to alter the PGL protein regions to examine their individual roles in granule formation and function. Exploring the role and interactions of the components within P granules enhances our overall understanding of RNA-protein complexes. Read more

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of pancreatic beta cells, causing diminished insulin production. T1D affects 8.4 million individuals, with 1.5 million under the age of 20. T1D research is crucial becaus ... e it aims to unravel the disease’s underlying mechanisms, paving the way for improved treatment options and ultimately a cure. Research advancements can enhance the quality of life for persons living with T1D by developing robust management strategies (i.e., glucose sensors and insulin delivery systems). Research can identify T1D development risk factors to delay disease progression in children at high risk. My research focuses on participant recruitment for TrialNet, a research consortium dedicated to preventing or delaying T1D progression. TrialNet screenings detect T1D stages, averting life-threatening hospitalizations. However, recruitment has declined since the COVID-19 outbreak. After analyzing the departmental database, we've identified recruitment barriers: apprehension about experimental drug usage, lack of inclusivity, rumors of misconduct, protocol burden, preference for online alternatives, and geographical limitations. Addressing these limitations involves recognizing the barriers, engaging participant partners, tailoring recruitment approaches, simplifying eligibility, offering reimbursements, enhancing communication, fostering trust, streamlining procedures, and continuously adapting strategies. Our research team strives to overcome obstacles hindering patient recruitment in T1D Research. Read more

I have been working under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Sears; her laboratory focuses on the impact of DNA damage and repair on the development of lung cancer and other lung diseases. Through this internship I have studied how the DNA repair prot ... ein Xeroderma Pigmentosum Group C (XPC) impacts the response of lung epithelial cells to PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5), a dangerous component of air pollution. We used “normal” human bronchial epithelial cells (Beas-2B) and lung cancer cell lines wild-type for XPC (WT) or modified by lentiviral knock-down of XPC (KD). When exposed to increasing concentrations of PM2.5, we found differences in cell microscopic appearance in XPC KD compared to WT Beas-2B cells. By Crystal Violet assay, I found that XPC KD Beas-2B cells had lower survival with increasing PM2.5 concentrations compared to XPC WT. Additionally, I found that XPC KD Beas-2B cells had significantly higher levels of DNA damage by alkaline Comet assay compared to WT cells. I am confirming these findings using a clonogenic survival assay and in XPC KD and WT cancer cell lines. My research aims to determine cellular responses to air pollution, informing strategies to relieve health impacts and understand pollution-related respiratory disease pathophysiology. Read more