Research fellow: Kiserian Jackson
Hometown: Brockton, MA
School: Roger Williams University
Majors: Biology, Chemistry
Mentor: Roxanna Smolowitz
Project: Is neoplasia in hard clams infectious?

A recent summer morning found Kiserian Jackson, a rising junior, running through a research procedure with clams in the wet lab at Roger Williams University’s Marine and Natural Sciences building.

Although he has worked in a lab before, Jackson says the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program offered his first opportunity to conduct research full-time: “I’ve gotten a lot of help from more experienced people to get accustomed to our experiment and work in the lab full time. I like being able to interact with the other students in the SURF program; it broadens my horizons and allows me to develop as a person and a scientist.”

Jackson traces his interest in science to when he was young, remembering early visits to the Boston Museum of Science and being intrigued by learning how things worked. That spurred an interest in science that continued throughout high school and led him to seek out research opportunities.

For his SURF project, under the guidance of Assistant Professor Roxanna Smolowitz, Jackson is helping investigate a disease causing the death of hard clams in the Wellfleet, Mass., harbor, first observed in the summer of 2009, when large numbers of adults began to surface and die. Studies found the presence of a few to many large, unusual cells in the clams’ blood vessel system.

“I just want to do the best I can. And, if I’m going to go into research, I’ll need to figure that out. I might apply to med school — my options are endless.”

According to Smolowitz, director of the RWU Aquatic Diagnostic Laboratory, the disease had not been previously identified in hard clams and scientists think that a changing environment may be partly responsible for its appearance. The prevalence of the disease and its intensity has increased during the past years and spread throughout clams in the harbor. Additionally, there is concern about the disease spreading to other hard clam growing areas.

Jackson’s work involves both injecting healthy clams with the abnormal (neoplastic) cells from infected animals and putting the infected cells into the water where healthy clams are maintained. These procedures are done with clams kept at two different temperatures. Scientists hope to gain insight on how the disease is transmitted, whether through the animals or the water, and the role temperature may play.

Jackson says his participation in the research is broadening his perspective on what path he may want to pursue, including whether he wants to continue with biology or make a shift to marine biology.

“I see my future as having many different options, but no specific goal right now,” he says. “I just want to do the best I can. And, if I’m going to go into research, I’ll need to figure that out. I might apply to med school — my options are endless.”

In the meantime, Jackson says he is enjoying making the most of his SURF experience, participating in many of the workshops offered to the undergraduate fellows, including a session at the Rhode Island School of Design Nature Lab on data visualization: “I hope to keep expanding my skills, especially with visualizing data, to help the general public understand what we’re doing.”

Story and photo by Amy Dunkle