Student News

Rowe Researcher: Lab-on-a-chip Device

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Lab-on-a-chip Device for an Early Diagnosis of Cardiac Diseases

Spring 2016-Ongoing

Investigators: Elena Carrington, Karim Abdel Jalil, Dr. Chandra Kumar Dixit in the Chemistry as well as the Molecular and Cell Biology Department

Through various experiments, we are showing that microfluidic arrays can be used for detection of cardiovascular disease. We are examining troponin, C-Reactive Protein (CRP), and myoglobin as biomarkers for detection of cardiovascular disease. These biomarkers are used in a 3D printed microfluidic device, which is designed with an open source designing software, Autodesk 123. The fabricated chip has two distinct regions, viz fluidics and detection zone. Reagent delivery system is constituted of five micro-channels for transporting sample and reagents to the detection chamber. Monoclonal capture antibodies are spotted separately within the detection chamber. The sample and reagents follow to the waste chamber.  The detection zone is spotted with monoclonal antibodies specific to the three biomarkers. The objective of our experimental design is to develop a microfluidic-based tool for multiplexed and highly sensitive detection of cardiovascular diseases. The experiments are ongoing; therefore, we do not have conclusive results at this time.

2016 Rowe Scholar: Michael Kerr

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Michael Kerr (Freshman)
Michael Kerr (Freshman)

Michael Kerr is from Bloomfield, CT where he graduated from Bloomfield High School. As a high school student he attended the Mini Medical/Dental School program via UConn Health’s Health Career Opportunity Programs, and he played rugby for the West Hartford Black Hearts. Michael will be a Biological Sciences major at UConn.

Variable Topics: Legal Institutions and Social Change (Conversion opportunity)

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Legal Institutions and Social Change: From Latin America to the United States by Way of Europe
POLS 2998-006; LLAS 3998-001; SOCI 3998-001

Instructor: Ángel Oquendo

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Oquendo welcomes Honors students of any major and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students.

The course deals, at a law-school level, with constitutional law, as well as with specific areas of private law, such as civil law, civil procedure, and business law, and considers how legal institutions further social change. It first introduces the civil law tradition, as well as legal history, comparing the Latin American experience with that of the United States and Europe. The discussion, which maintains this comparative aim throughout, then moves on to constitutional law: to the notion of constitutionalism, to basic principles, to the vindication of rights, and to second and third generation entitlements. Thereafter the focus shifts to civil law—i.e., civil codes, interpretation, combating codified sexism, and civil remedies—and to civil procedure—specifically to the attainment of legitimacy through procedure, to procedural guaranties, and to collective actions. The class closes with an exploration of corporate law. Students will become fully conversant with the principal legal concepts used by lawyers in the regions traversed.

Professor Oquendo is a George J. and Helen M. England Professor of Law at UConn School of Law. He has lectured and published extensively in five languages and is an authority worldwide on comparative law and international litigation. He graduated from Yale Law School and clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

2016 Rowe Scholar: Kevin Okifo

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Kevin Okifo (Freshman)
Kevin Okifo (Freshman)

Kevin Okifo moved to Naugatuck, CT from Bronx, NY just before starting fourth grade. Now a graduate of Naugatuck High School, he is a budding musician and a Biological Sciences major at UConn. Kevin has benefitted from the fact that his parents are both nurses as he has seen them working and caring for their patients. He has also shadowed an oncologist at Waterbury Hospital.

2016 Rowe Scholar: Brian Sullivan

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Brian Sullivan (Freshman)
Brian Sullivan (Freshman)

Brian Sullivan is a Pre-Pharmacy major from East Hartford, CT. A graduate of Two Rivers Magnet High School in Hartford, CT, he has played the tenor saxophone for eight years. Brian is interested in diseases in the brain and has shadowed his cousin, a nurse at UConn Health, to learn about different roles in the medical field.

2016 Rowe Scholar: Jaydeen Sewell

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Jaydeen Sewell (Junior)
Jaydeen Sewell (Junior)

Originally born in Jamaica, Jaydeen Sewell moved to Bridgeport, CT when she was 13. A graduate of Central High School, Jaydeen is a Biological Sciences major with a potential double major in Psychology. Though she has many interests in the health field, including public health, general surgery, and orthopedic surgery, her goal is to pursue her main interest of providing health care in developing countries, specifically to return to Jamaica and open a free clinic. Jaydeen has learned and grown from the opportunity to participate in the National Youth Leadership Forum of Medicine, where she watched a knee replacement surgery and shadowed doctors from different specialties. A self-proclaimed giver of great advice, she looks forward to both pursuing her other hobby, dancing, and to new experiences with the Pre-Med Society as she transfers to the Storrs campus.

2016 Rowe Scholar: Emilio Loret de Mola

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Emilio Loret de Mola (Freshman)
Emilio Loret de Mola (Freshman)

Emilio Loret de Mola is an individual of many interests. Though his major will be Physiology and Neurobiology at UConn, he’s also interested in health care, biomedical engineering and nanotechnology, public health, international relations, and human rights. High school provided him with an opportunity to delve into many of these interests. Hailing from Stamford, CT Emilio graduated from King Low Heywood Thomas School with a distinction in global studies. He took courses in global politics, economics and sustainability, international relations, world religions, and human rights, completing two capstone projects. The first, about the public health system and the degrading effects of multimedia sensationalism, included research on the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, the Ebola epidemic of 2014, and the Zika epidemic of 2016. The other was an environmental sustainability project on his school’s use of energy and possible green alternatives, which led to his attendance at a community and global sustainability summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. For the last three years Emilio has volunteered at Stamford Hospital’s Emergency Room, an opportunity he describes as one of the best he’s had in the medical field. He learned about the different departments of a hospital and developed an appreciation for patient care and its importance.

2016 Rowe Scholar: Oghenenyerovwo Okifo

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Oghenenyerovwo Okifo (Junior)
Oghenenyerovwo Okifo (Junior)

Born in Bronx, NY, Oghenenyerovwo Okifo now hails from Naugatuck, CT and graduated from Naugatuck High School. With aspirations of becoming a neurologist, she is on the pre-med track with intentions of changing her major from Biological Sciences to Physiology and Neurobiology. Oghenenyerovwo has had several volunteer experiences that have shaped her desire to pursue this path. She describes her work at Hidden Acres Therapeutic Riding Center as peaceful and rewarding, her experience at Yale New Haven Hospital as humbling and empowering, and her efforts with a community-based church health fair as encouraging. Oghenenyerovwo is someone who chooses her words carefully, as she says that if she didn’t go into medicine she’d be a writer, an activity she loves. She’s interested in developing a unique, Victorian inspired style and writing a novel with memorable characters. She feels that writing intersects with neurology and psychology in that much of characterization deals with how people think and she’s fascinated by the human thought process.

2016 Rowe Scholar: Jiana Baker

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Jiana Baker (Freshman)
Jiana Baker (Freshman)

Jiana Baker lives in Windsor, CT where she graduated from Windsor High School. She was captain of the track team and became an All American sprinter. With an interest in pre-med and health research, Jiana will be a Physiology and Neurobiology major and a Mathematics minor at UConn. She looks forward to joining the Pre-Med Society to meet other students with similar interests and to get involved her field of choice.