Student News

Rowe Researcher: Soldier Systems Center

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Summer 2009: Biological Science Aid, Military Performance Division, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick Soldier Systems Center

By James Alvarez, POC: Edward J. Zambraski, Ph.D., Jeffery S. Staab, M.S.

My summer was spent as an Intern with the United States Army in Natick, MA, at the Soldier Systems Center. My division’s mission is stated as “conducting biomedical research to improve and sustain Warfighter health and performance under all conditions”. My role in this mission was acting as a general lab technician, processing human blood and tissue samples collected from numerous ongoing studies. I also had the opportunity to observe, and in some cases implement, a number of experimental protocols. Continue reading →

Rowe Researcher: Mesenchymal Progenitors

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Spring 2008: Characterization of Mesenchymal Progenitors from Bone Marrow and Adipose Tissue

By Shawnet K. Jones, Katie Lamothe, Ivo Kalajzic and H.Leonardo Aguila

In the lab of Dr. H. Leonardo Aguila we aimed to find markers that would allow for the characterization and isolation of mesenchymal progenitors from different sources. This project focused mostly on progenitors isolated from bone marrow and adipose tissue, two sites containing cells with recognized ability to form bone. In addition this project aimed to determine if there was a differential distribution of progenitor cells amongst males and females. Continue reading →

Rowe Researcher: Chemotherapeutic drug (SAM)

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Summer 2008: Studying the Effects of a Potential New Chemotherapeutic Agent, SAM, on a Breast Cancer Cell Line and on a Yeast Model for Cancer

By Luke Monteagudo

During my summer fellowship, I worked four days a week doing basic science research on the effect of a potential new chemotherapeutic drug, SAM, on a breast cancer cell line and on a yeast model for cancer. Continue reading →

Rowe Researcher: Acoustic Cues for Sound Localization

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Summer 2008: Identification of Candidate Acoustic Cues for Sound Localization

By Rishi Kothari

Sound localization is an important ability for all animals for a variety of reasons, including avoiding predation and finding food. The localization of sound in animals, as well as humans, has been investigated extensively with respect to varying azimuth, but substantially less study has been done on the effects of changing the distance or elevation of the sound source. Continue reading →

Rowe Researcher: Osteoblast Cell Culture

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Summer 2008: Optimizing Osteoblast Cell Culture for the Study of Dlx Gene Function

By Sean Ghassem-Zadeh

With the high volume of research involving in vitro studies and the need to optimize specific types of cell cultures, multiple companies have produced various Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) products that can aid cell culture processes. With numerous companies producing multiple lots of FBS, which are obtained from an isolated population of fetal calves, a further investigation is needed to determine the best product for a desired cell culture (in this case calvaria and bone marrow cultures). Continue reading →

Rowe Researcher: Autoimmune Uveitis

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Philip Gorecki conducting research.
Philip Gorecki conducting research.

Summer 2008: Autoimmunity to Interphotoreceptor Retinoid Binding Protein

By Philip J. Gorecki, Robert E. Cone, Ph.D., and Rajwardhan Yadav, M.D./Ph.D. Dept. of Immunology & Connecticut Lions’ Vascular Vision Center University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Conn.

Autoimmune uveitis is a condition in which the immune response is directed against retinal antigens. Interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP) is an immunodominant antigen that stimulates T and B lymphocytes. Our aim was to characterize IRBP specific immune responses using a mouse model. Continue reading →

Rowe Researcher: Angelmans syndrome

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Devorah Donnell conducting research.
Devorah Donnell conducting research.

Summer 2007: A cause of Angelmans syndrome, a form of mental retardation, in terms of Ubiquitin Protein Ligase 3A (UBE3A) expression’s impact on resistance to genotoxic stressors

By Devorah Donnell

Through the UConn Medical School’s Summer Research Fellowship Program, I conducted stem cell research in the summer of 2007 in Dr. Lalande’s laboratory in the department of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the UConn Health Center. I studied a cause of Angelmans syndrome, a form of mental retardation, in terms of Ubiquitin Protein Ligase 3A (UBE3A) expression’s impact on resistance to genotoxic stressors. Continue reading →