{"id":12193,"date":"2016-07-15T14:58:14","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T18:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=12193"},"modified":"2016-07-15T14:58:14","modified_gmt":"2016-07-15T18:58:14","slug":"surfs-up-2016-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2016\/07\/15\/surfs-up-2016-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-10\/","title":{"rendered":"SURF’s up 2016: Rhode Island undergrads in research"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rebeka<\/a>
Working alongside RIC Associate Professor Rebeka Merson, left, SURF student Mikayla Lopes helps track an individual skate through lab records at the EPA facility in Narragansett.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Research fellow:<\/strong> Mikayla Lopes
\nHometown:<\/strong> Warren, RI
\nSchool:<\/strong> Rhode Island College<\/a>
\nMajor:<\/strong> Biology
\nMentor:<\/strong> Rebeka Merson
\nProject:<\/strong> Impacts of legacy and emerging chemicals of concern on elasmobranch<\/a> fishes<\/p>\n

Mikayla Lopes, heading into her senior year, spent summers past working various jobs \u2014 restaurant server, camp counselor \u2014 that are typical rites of passage for many young adults.<\/p>\n

This summer, however, Lopes is working full time as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow <\/a> (SURF) with Associate Professor Rebeka Merson, investigating the impact of environmental contaminants (polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs) on the embryonic development of apex predators, such as sharks, which sit atop the the food chain. The project uses skates, a flat, bottom-dwelling fish, as a model.<\/p>\n

\"Mikayla<\/a>
Mikayla Lopes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s weird to have a professional job,\u201d says Lopes of the full-time fellowship funded by Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR. \u201cI\u2019ve had summer jobs, but it\u2019s really cool to be doing something you love. This \u2014 research \u2014 is what I\u2019ve always wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project focuses on the response of one protein, aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), which the chemical binds to and then moves into the cell nucleus, where it alters the protein\u2019s function and disrupts development.<\/p>\n

Lopes is spending much of the 10-week SURF experience working at the Environmental Protection Agency lab<\/a> in Narragansett, near the University of Rhode Island Bay Campus. Among her duties, she says, she feeds the skates, checks for mortality, changes water and cleans tanks, removes embryos from their cases, tracks data, and images individual blood cells.<\/p>\n

\"skate<\/a>
A skate egg case<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is her first time conducting hands-on research, Lopes notes: \u201cIt\u2019s really cool. I like the experimentation process, finding things out and answering questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In kindergarten, Lopes says, she wanted to be a veterinarian, but that dream evolved as she grew up. She thought she might be interested in mathematics, but found science to be her calling, watching a lot of Bill Nye the Science Guy<\/a> during her middle school years.<\/p>\n

Then, says Lopes, \u201cI had Dr. Merson for vertebrate zoology and I really liked the way she taught. I asked her about research opportunities and she told me about the SURF program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to her post graduation plans, Lopes contemplates the possibilities. She says she always wanted to do Peace Corps work and may consider graduate school, but not right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might work in a hospital as a research assistant and see if that\u2019s more what I want to get into,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve always like genetics and evolution. I like research, but I want to find my focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Research fellow: Mikayla Lopes Hometown: Warren, RI School: Rhode Island College Major: Biology Mentor: Rebeka Merson Project: Impacts of legacy and emerging chemicals of concern on elasmobranch fishes Mikayla Lopes, heading into her senior year, spent summers past working various jobs \u2014 restaurant server, camp counselor \u2014 that are typical rites of passage for many […]<\/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":[21,51],"tags":[75,93,504,558,570,657],"class_list":["post-12193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-surfsup","tag-ahr","tag-apex-predators","tag-pcbs","tag-rhode-island-college","tag-rhode-island-nsf-epscor","tag-skates"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12193","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=12193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}