Author Archives: Adaora Nwosu

I know, I know, this is really late. I am just now getting time to ponder of the experience I had this summer, but words cannot express how thankful I am for being able to participate in BSURF this summer. The friends I made, the faculty talks, and the research experience all made this summer very special and one that I will truly cherish. I was honestly so nervous beginning this program. I was so nervous about not being smart enough and I was nervous that I was not going to enjoy research. But with all new experiences, I believe uneasiness can be a good thing. It’s good to come out of your comfort zone, and the fact that participating in this new experience initially made me uneasy (but excited of course) meant that in some way, what I was about to do was important for my growth as an individual. I can happily say that this program did cause me to grow– in academic knowledge, confidence, knowing my strengths and weaknesses, and setting new goals for myself. Furthermore, BSURF has definitely influence my career endeavors because research is definitely something I want to do again in the future.

As I elaborated on in my previous post, one aspect that I really enjoyed about BSURF was the faculty talks. I really liked how the faculty not only talked about their research interests, but their own career paths–the ups and downs– and how it got them to where they are. This was really influential to me because I was able to see and understand that although things may not always go as planned, life works its way out.

I just want to give a special thank you to the people in my lab for making me feel welcome. I also want to thank my mentor, Connor, for teaching me about different aspects of research and allowing me to work on your project. Furthermore, I want to thank my PI, Dr. Calakos, for letting me obtain this initial research experience from your lab. Finally, I want to thank Dr. Grunwald and Jason for this summer and for facilitating my, and my fellow peers, ability to make connections with professors and important faculty in the various fields of biological sciences. Man, this was such a fun summer and I hate to see it end, but I know this experience is only the beginning and has provided me with a clearer lens of what I want to do in the future. 🙂

One of my favorite activities of the BSURF program was the opportunity for all of   my classmates and I, along with Dr. Grunwald and Jason, to gather in the early hours of the day to listen to inspiring scientists discuss their research focus and their academic path towards this focus.

From Dr. Schmid’s focus on extremophiles, to Dr. David’s focus on microbiomes,  I learned so much about aspects of science that I had never even heard of before. One faculty talk that really intrigued me was Dr. Noor’s talk on evolution and genetics. In his talk, Dr. Noor explained that evolution is comprised of two processes: changes within a current lineage and formation of a new lineage. He then discussed one of his current research ideas about recombination and what happens to differentiation of species if recombination is stopped. He studies this in Drosophilia (fruit flies). From my understanding, one of his broader goals is to examine how new species are formed and how they are sustained through genetic inheritance.

One thing I really liked about Dr. Noor’s faculty talk is his ability to explain his research project in a fun, interesting, and lively way. He also really brought to light the intersections of science and society through his discussion of the current political climate on evolution. I could definitely understand his concern about the lack teaching of evolution in grade school, having seen this phenomenon in my own high school biology class. Another aspect of Dr. Noor’s talk that I really enjoyed was his discussion of evolution as it applies to other sciences, including medicine. Specifically, he discussed how evolution could explain antibiotic resistance to bacterial diseases/ infections, as well as mosquito-borne diseases. Prior to this, I had never even know that this was a growing problem. Overall, I think it was really interesting to see how Dr. Noor’s research can help increase our understanding of evolution. Hopefully I can have a chance to take one of his classes in the future!

Dystonia is a neuromuscular disorder in which muscles make involuntary contractions, leading to abnormal and often times repetitive movements. It has been found that a common mechanism for several types of dystonia—each characterized by the gene adversely affected—was an impairment in ISR signaling. (Rittiner, et al,) Furthermore, the alleles causing dystonia have incomplete penetrance. Thus, individuals who have the dGAG mutation for dystonia could either be manifesting—individuals who exhibit the disorder—or non-manifesting—individuals who do not have the disorder but have the mutation. This project will focus on this idea of manifesting and non-manifesting patients with the dGAG mutation through the examination of exosomes and other extracellular vesicles. Specifically, this research explores the potential for exosomes to be biomarkers for the difference in manifesting and non-manifesting disease states, because exosomes are known for their role in intracellular communication and disease progression. To test this possibility, ultracentrifugation is being utilized to isolate exosomes from patient fibroblasts grown in conditioned media. Then, a bicinchoninic acid assay was run to examine protein content in both cell lysates and extracellular vesicle samples. For further testing, the plan is to run a western blot utilizing antibodies that will indicate whether or not exosomes were enriched, and then to send these samples to another lab for further testing. Potential results would be that there may be a difference in the RNA and protein composition of the exosomes between the manifesting and non-manifesting. There may also be a difference in the production of exosomes between the manifesting and non-manifesting. Finally, there could be no significant difference between these states.

This summer, through the B-SURF program, I will be working in Dr. Calakos’ lab. During these next eight weeks, there are many opportunities that I hope to have. I hope that this summer will be a great learning experience.

One of the biggest expectations I have for this summer is for myself to determine if biological research is something that I want to continue. Although I have some experience in statistics research, I have never worked in a wet lab before, outside of class requirements. As such, I hope that I can learn about different lab experiments, like how we can collect data from biological specimens. Furthermore, I hope to even have the chance to practice experimental protocol as well. I have already learned so much in this first week from my awesome mentor as well as from the wonderful people in my lab. There is always something new that I learn every day, and although the learning curve feels a bit steep right now from inexperience, my main goal is to use this summer as a way to witness firsthand the value of research and science in a way that is transcendent above regular classroom work.

Similarly, during this summer, I expect to foster my ability to ask important questions and my critical thinking. Even if at the end of this program I conclude that biological research is not something I would like to pursue- though I do not think this will happen- I believe that from this experience I will learn the ability to solve problems, ask questions, and think creatively and critically, which will all be important in any career I decide to pursue.

Another expectation I have for myself is that I will make a contribution- however big or small- to the project I will be working on. I hope that the end-of-program poster session will be a success and that I will be able to explain the project as best as I can.

Finally, I hope to form new and lasting relationships with my colleagues in Dr. Calakos’ lab, as well as my peers in the B-SURF program. I would probably consider myself a relatively introverted and shy person, but I hope to put myself out there and be less nervous when talking to people about my interests and what I hope to achieve.

Hi!