Student researchers present dynamic biomedical studies at RI-INBRE Summer Research Symposium
More than 120 students from nine colleges and universities around the state converged on the University of Rhode Island Friday to showcase the biomedical research projects they’ve spent the summer studying, as RI-INBRE hosted its annual Summer Research Symposium.
Students offered studies on topics as varied as cancer, cerebral palsy, aging and heart function. The students presented their research posters and detailed their findings with peer researchers, as well as faculty members and administrators from URI, Rhode Island College, Salve Regina University, Brown University, Providence College, the Community College of Rhode Island, Roger Williams University, Bryant University and Johnson & Wales University.
The Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) program started in 2001 and the poster symposium began in 2004, with students from URI’s RI-INBRE Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). Based at URI, the SURF program and symposium is open to students from other institutions in Rhode Island. The poster presentations are held the last Friday in July, capping the 10-week SURF program, during which students are fully immersed in proper research procedure.
“Students get a whole, well-rounded education in research, including how to put together the posters, how to communicate the science to their peers,” said URI Pharmacy Professor Bongsup Cho, also the INBRE program director. “The INBRE program has two major goals: support junior, early-career faculty, and student training. We have a very well-organized professional development program. This program gives them a complete introduction to research.”
Over the last 22 years, the program has expanded beyond pharmaceutical sciences to include neuroscience, engineering, biotechnology, nursing and other health sciences, Cho said. As the disciplines have expanded, so has the research funding from the National Institutes of Health. RI-INBRE has brought more than $80 million to Rhode Island earmarked specifically for biomedical research. The program has applied for $23 million more to support the next five years, and expects a decision from NIH early in 2024.
“All together, if we are successful, we’re talking about more than $100 million in biomedical capacity in the state of Rhode Island, which is really something to celebrate,” Cho said. “We’re really expanding the footprint. This has become one-of-a-kind in Rhode Island. I cannot think of any grant that goes on for 20-something years and makes this much impact.”
Leading up to their poster presentations, the students worked 30 to 40 hours a week on their projects, learning how to construct a study, form and test a hypothesis, and ultimately communicate their findings to peers.
The INBRE summer program gives students opportunities to conduct research they can’t necessarily get to during the academic semester, according to Kate Remy, a senior biotechnology major.
“During the school year, you can only get so much hands-on experience in the lab. But in the summer, I was in the lab for like 30 hours a week,” said Remy, who studied urinary tract infections, finding that antibiotics are less effective on the bacteria that causes them when those bacteria cells become dormant. Resuscitating them makes attempts to fight the infection more successful. “I worked in a lab throughout the school year, but really continued my work through the summer. I became more independent, and able to do my own experiments without a mentor.”
Sophomore doctor of pharmacy major Benison Aguocha said she appreciated how fellow researchers often helped each other out, especially in taking care of the live cell cultures multiple researchers were using in their various studies. Aguocha is continuing to research how to improve cardiac function in people who have had bypass surgery. Using data from a previous study involving pigs that had received bypass surgery, she determined that the drug Rottlerin helped improve heart function after surgery, increasing ventricle pressure that aids in pumping blood.
“With the bypass surgery, pressure was reduced and the heart’s contractions were weaker, but our drug brought it back up,” Aguocha said. “Contractibility was improved. The heart is functioning so much better with the drug.”
Danielo Zamor, a junior neuroscience major, researched aging, looking at the scientific reasons behind physical changes as animals, including humans, grow older. Stressors can cause damage to the body’s DNA, and even when that DNA is repaired, it tends not to bounce back fully to where it was before. Some information is lost, and as that happens repeatedly over time, cells become less efficient at the work they are supposed to do.
“For example, if we look at skin cells, stress is driving a break in the DNA. So, your skin cells gets less and less efficient over time, so you get wrinkles,” Zamor said. “Your lifestyle really matters to the way you age. Less stress, less breaking. Eating healthier food and exercising more can limit the stress on the body, which limits the breakdown of DNA. If you exercise versus don’t, or eat good food versus bad, it’s a different ball game. People with a healthier lifestyle get a better outcome as they age.”
Destiny Sanders, a senior biological and pharmaceutical sciences major, researched cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that affects the brain and spinal cord. Specifically, Sanders is examining cell and fiber types in the muscles of rabbits with simulated cerebral palsy. By dissecting the calf muscle, Sanders discovered a shift in the fiber types of the muscle, which impacts their ability to perform.
“We see that cerebral palsy does have an effect in fiber type composition, which can affect muscle contraction and muscle stiffness, and other CP symptoms,” Sanders said. “The fiber types really tell you how the muscle is going to function.”
URI President Marc Parlange joined the throngs touring Avedisian Hall and the Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering, where students displayed their projects. Reminiscing on his own beginnings as a student researcher in the 1980s, Parlange said he is impressed with how far the research program at URI has come, both in the number of students participating and in the breadth of the subjects examined.
“Exploring scientific opportunities and important questions through research is critical,” Parlange said. “This collaboration and sharing of ideas is very important, and there is great opportunity in the future. Science knows no bounds.”
The RI-INBRE programs are open to undergraduate students from any college. Applications for the programs open in January and are due in February. Learn more.