Summer Student Program

Summer 2013

Our 10-week long summer research program provides students with an opportunity to get hands-on experience working in biomedical research. Summer interns, who are undergraduate and graduate students with some previous lab experience in biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, or biomedical engineering, will participate in day-to-day laboratory activities working alongside their accomplished mentors, conducting research aimed at developing effective diagnostics and treatments for medical problems. Students will attend weekly lectures by HMRI scientists about recent research developments and, at the end of summer program, will present the results of their own research projects. Many alumni of HMRI’s Summer Student Program have gone on to distinguished careers. For 55 years HMRI has provided a summer research program for science students who are interested in careers in biomedical research. Several HMRI alumni have gone on to be chairmen of medical school departments and directors of research institutes, including the prestigious Salk Institute in San Diego, crediting their HMRI experience as a springboard to their future professions. The summer program strives to identify and encourage the intellectual development of new scientists.

Limited number of stipends ($4000-$5000) would be provided for participation in the program on the basis of financial need and/or ethnical minority status. No housing assistance is provided for participants.

The deadline for applications for this year’s summer student program was April 15th, 2013. We received 152 applications.

 

Summer 2012

Twenty-one students from UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, Berkeley, Yale, Columbia, and other universities and colleges participated in the program, working under the mentorship of Mike Harrington, Alfred Fonteh, Xianghong Arakaki, Myron Tong, Marylou Ingram, Ashraf Imam, Brian Ross, Thao Tran, Pom Sailasuta, Martin Han, and Victor Pikov.

Standing (left to right): Hoang Ho, Jude Fernando, Fatimatou Diallo, Patrick Chang, Matthew Liu, Michael Alim, Morgan Bowser, Mark Zhong, Cora Ormseth, Tanya Arellano, Janeesa Tate, June Liu
Sitting (left to right): Jennifer To, Evans Moc, Kimberline Yang, Linus Kuo, Paige McCleary, Matthew Techy
Not in the photo: Alejandra Chirino, Nicholas O’Dell, Carmen Cong

View participants of prior years.

 

List of Recent Summer Research Projects

 

Cancer Genetics (Dr. Eggerding):

  • MicroRNA Expression Profiling in Colorectal Cancer
  • Sebaceous Adenoma: DNA Sequencing Case Study

Liver Research (Dr. Tong, Dr. Mena):

  • Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatocellular Carcinoma
  • Hepatitis B treatment algorithm including screening for viral mutants
  • Demographics of Asian Americans with Hepatitis B
  • Clinical course of hepatocellular carcinoma in Hepatitis C patients treated with interferon
  • Analysis of clinical progression in patients with normal ALT chronic Hepatitis C

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (Dr. Ross, Dr. Sailasuta, Dr. Chan, Thao Tran):

  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging Intelligence: A Preliminary Study
  • The effect of aging on hippocampal volume and cortical MRS signals
  • Diffusion Tensor Imaging in hydrocephalus patients
  • Development of polarizer for hyperpolarization of MR agents
  • Imaging of strain in carotid arteries using DENSE MRI
  • Measurement of atherosclerotic plaque using hyperpolarization technique
  • Right ventricular function in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy
  • Cardiac MRI analysis of ejection fraction
  • Hyperpolarization in vivo
  • Identifying mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease using MRS and quantitative MRI
  • Metabolic evidence of glial abnormalities during primary HIV infection

Molecular Neurology (Dr. Harrington, Dr. Fonteh, Dr. Arakaki, Sherri Lee):

  • Endocannabinoids in Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Sphingomyelin in Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Phospholipase A2 in Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Noninvasive Measurement of Oxidative Stress in Alzheimer’s Patients
  • Apolipoprotein A-1 in Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Carnonsine pathway in Alzheimer’s Disease
  • CSF biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease
  • Bioinformatic analysis of lipids in CSF from healthy people and Alzheimer’s patients
  • Comparison of daily nutrient estimates among men and women in an Alzheimer’s study disease
  • Membrane-bound particles in the cerebrospinal fluid in Alzheimer’s disease
  • Detection of myeloperoxidase and cholesterol in cerebrospinal fluid in neurological diseases
  • Clinical features of migraine, stress and endocannabinoid biochemistry
  • Capillary sodium regulation in the ciliary body and retina in a rat migraine model
  • Auditory neurophysiology of migraine
  • The dura mater of a rat migraine model at the capillary endothelial cell level
  • Brain capillary endothelial cell Na+ pumps in the rat migraine model
  • Endocannabinoids in migraine
  • Endogenous steroid glycosides in Na+/K+-ATPase activity in migraine
  • Detection of phospholipases in cerebrospinal fluid during migraine
  • Alpha and beta CGRP in CSF of migrainers
  • CSF and body fluids of migraineurs in Ojai Headache clinic
  • Circadian rhythms of cation concentrations in human saliva and urine
  • Compositional Glycerophospholipid Changes in a Ketogenic SN1A KO Epilepsy Model
  • Needles in the migraine haystack: Cerebrospinal Fluid biomarkers
  • Composition of nanostructures in the cerebrospinal fluid of hydrocephalus patients
  • Primary cultures of rats’ hippocampal astrocytes as part of construction for an artificial blood brain barrier for migraine studies
  • Effect of NKAT regulators on sodium concentration of  the brain

Molecular Pathology (Dr. Imam):

  • Expression of Bcl2 and HIF-1α in breast cancer
  • Jagged1, a potential marker for prostate and cervical cancers
  • GST Pi and prostate cancer
  • Cytoplasmic and nuclear PTEN as a prognostic marker for prostate cancer
  • Expression of Hepatocyte Growth Factor in human breast cancer
  • Expression of chemokine receptor CXCR4 and its ligand in breast cancer
  • Expression of fibroblast immunomarkers in breast cancer

Neural Engineering (Dr. McCreery, Dr. Pikov, Dr. Han):

  • Filament tracing for quantifying glial cells in inflamed cortical tissue
  • Comparing Tissue Response to Bimorphic, Silicon, and PLGA Probes within the Brain
  • Electrophoretic Approach to Immunostaining Neural Tissue Sections
  • Tracking motion of rat whiskers from HD video
  • Use of modulated laser pulses for activation of light-sensitive proteins in cortex
  • Device for detection and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea
  • Image analysis of electrode locations and analysis of neuronal activity in the spinal cord
  • Testing of longevity of the neuroprosthetic electrodes
  • Characterization of degradation of poly-lactide-co-glycolide probes in phosphate buffered saline
  • Measuring Neuronal Membrane Potentials With FRET
  • Finite element modeling of the insertion stress of polymer probes
  • The cochlear nucleus auditory prosthesis: PST histogram analysis
  • Quantification of tissue response to a novel bimorphic neural probe
  • High-throughput testing of corrosion in implantable electrodes

Tissue Engineering (Dr. Ingram, Brenda Ward, Dr. Techy):

  • Nanoparticles and tumor histoids
  • Effect of potent anti-cancer drugs in 3-dimensional cultures of cancer-derived cell lines
  • Effect of Xanthosine on differentiation of neural progenitor cells
  • Quantification of cancer cells in tumor-like histoids using a fluorescent marker
  • Transfection of cultured cancer cells with fluorescent marker
  • Toxicity screening of cancer cell lines

Business Office (Frank Davis):

  • Role of administration in advancing medical research

For more information on the HMRI Summer Student Program, please contact:
Dr. Victor Pikov
Huntington Medical Research Institutes
734 Fairmount Ave.
Pasadena, California 91105
(626) 397-5850 or Email: summer@hmri.org