{"id":11764,"date":"2016-05-17T09:27:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T13:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=11764"},"modified":"2016-05-17T09:27:05","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T13:27:05","slug":"undergrad-research-opens-door-to-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2016\/05\/17\/undergrad-research-opens-door-to-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Undergraduate research opens door to opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"DSC_0009\"<\/a>
\n\u201cI\u2019m the first in my entire family to even think about a master\u2019s or Ph.D. And, for me to go to Johns Hopkins? This is a Portuguese kid from Bristol, Rhode Island!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Josh Leitao<\/strong>
\n Senior<\/strong>
\n B.S., biology; B.A. chemistry<\/strong>
\n Minor, public health; certificate, biotechnology<\/strong>
\n Roger Williams University<\/a><\/strong>
\n 2013 RI EPSCoR SURF<\/a>; 2014 RI INBRE SURF<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"weareriepscor-2\"<\/a>For many students selected as Rhode Island EPSCoR\u2019s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURFs), the 10-week program offers a novel, firsthand experience in full-time research.<\/p>\n

The intention is to give undergraduates selected for the program a taste of the scientist life, working on an open-ended project without the burden of academic responsibilities.<\/p>\n

For Josh Leitao, the opportunity was like being that kid in the candy store. He worked in the lab of faculty mentor RWU Associate Professor Avelina Espinosa, on the project \u201cUsing Entamoeba<\/em> to explore the effects of climate change in marine and fresh water protists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time I could dedicate my entire summer to research,\u201d he says, grinning at the memory. \u201cI was always in the lab. It was awesome. I got to learn so many techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Leitao\u2019s undergraduate research in the Espinosa lab has focused on Entamoeba<\/em>, harmful intestinal parasites, seeking to better understand the structure of a family of enzymes, alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHE), and the role it plays in the growth and survival of the these amoeba species.<\/p>\n

\"Visualization<\/a>
One aspect of understanding the effects of climate change on these parasites is to understand the behaviors, which are affected by stressful environmental conditions, that allow them to become infectious. This fluorescent micrograph from Josh Leitao’s RI EPSCoR research demonstrates the clustering of like cells within a control experiment of the same Entamoeba terrapinae species, resulting in the visualization of yellow dye after 36 hours of incubation. (Photo by Josh Leitao)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 21-year-old Bristol, RI, native says he knew early on that he wanted to pursue science, in general, and biotech, in particular. In high school, he enrolled in the Mt. Hope biotech academy, which required participation in science fairs. As a sophomore, he carried out what he describes as a small project on tobacco and earned second place.<\/p>\n

His senior year, determined to take first, Leitao recalls, \u201cI did an awesome project on treating celiac disease, isolating proteins from fungi that naturally grow on bread. It wasn\u2019t too elaborate, but it was a pretty good project for a high school senior.\u201d<\/p>\n

He won best of fair and went onto win the Rhode Island state science fair along with a slate of other\u00a0awards. Leitao found his calling and enrolled at RWU, selecting the institution for its biotechnology program and affordability. He has lived at home all four years, taking advantage of the campus shuttle since he does not have a car. He also is employed as a work-study student on campus and a pharmacy tech at CVS.<\/p>\n

In his four years in Espinosa\u2019s lab, Leitao says he has worked on many projects and trained more than 11 undergraduates following in his footsteps. He also picked up additional research experience in the lab of RWU Assistant Professor Erica Oduaran.<\/p>\n

Leitao earned an American Society for Microbiology<\/a> (ASM) undergraduate research fellowship (one of 12 undergrads in the nation to receive the award) and will present his research in June at the ASM Microbe<\/em> 2016<\/a> conference in Boston. In April, he presented his research in San Diego at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology<\/a> (ASBMB) and has been inducted into the ASBMB honor society for substantial research and academic performance. He helped create the campus chapter at RWU and served as president for the past two years.<\/p>\n

\"ASM<\/a>
Newly graduated from Roger Williams University, Josh Leitao will present his research at the ASM Microbe 2016 conference in Boston next month.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leitao celebrated his graduation from RWU on May 14 with summa cum laude<\/em> and as a President\u2019s Core Values Medallion<\/a> recipient. Next he heads to John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health<\/a>, where he will pursue a master\u2019s in molecular microbiology and immunology (MMI).<\/p>\n

A first generation college student (his mother finished high school and is a medical technician at a nursing home; his father dropped out of school after the sixth grade), Leitao appreciates the magnitude of his accomplishments: \u201cI\u2019m the first in my entire family to even think about a master\u2019s or Ph.D. And, for me to go to Johns Hopkins? This is a Portuguese kid from Bristol, Rhode Island!\u201d<\/p>\n

He attributes his success to his mother\u2019s high expectations and insistence that he do well in high school. He also points to her work ethic, at one time taking on four jobs to support him and his two sisters, as instrumental in his independence and driven nature.<\/p>\n

Leitao says he is excited to head to Johns Hopkins: \u201cI love public health! Any science that aims to help humans is my type of science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story and photos by Amy Dunkle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019m the first in my entire family to even think about a master\u2019s or Ph.D. And, for me to go to Johns Hopkins? This is a Portuguese kid from Bristol, Rhode Island!\u201d Josh Leitao Senior B.S., biology; B.A. chemistry Minor, public health; certificate, biotechnology Roger Williams University 2013 RI EPSCoR SURF; 2014 RI INBRE SURF […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21,1,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized","category-we-are-ri-epscor"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}