Expanding Scientific Knowledge Through A Summer Fellowship

Syeda Hussaini, a triple major in Biology, Chemistry, and Biochemistry in the Verrazano Class of 2013, is an aspiring optometrist.  She participated in a summer research-based fellowship at Systems Biology Center of New York and learned a lot from the experience.  Read below for more about Syeda's research experience.

Syeda Hussaini (far right in the first row)

Systems Biology Center of New York (SBCNY) offers a 10-week research-based opportunity at one of the well-known institutes in New York.  It is located in one of the Mount Sinai buildings in Manhattan, New York. The program is for undergraduates who are entering their junior or senior year within CUNY.  Students majoring in these areas: Biological, Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences are encouraged to apply. This is a summer fellowship that rewards students who have an interest pursuing a PhD or PhD/MD with a unique experience and stipend. 

I found out about this opportunity during my sophomore year in 2010. The poster was on one of the walls of the 6S building at the College of Staten Island.   I wrote down the website and decided to check it out at home.  After reviewing the website I decided to apply, and when I was accepted that spring semester I was caught off guard.  I was extremely excited for this opportunity, especially since I was going to be part of the Mount Sinai community for 10 weeks! During the summer of 2010, I had the opportunity to work alongside exceptional researchers and professors who worked at the Medical School. Although I had researched with a couple of professors at the College of Staten Island in inorganic and organic chemistry labs, this research fellowship was different.

Instead of doing my usual saline and catalytic reactions and obtaining their respective products, at Mount Sinai I had to construct a computer model of a signaling pathway. I learned so much thanks to my mentor, Dr. Susana Neves. She helped me through my entire fellowship experience.  Dr. Neves was nice enough to show me around the building, which was amazing. I learned step-by-step about her research on how dopamine and glutamate have an effect on the signaling pathway in the cell. I also learned how to use the bio-modeling program called Virtual Cell (Vcell). 

Our department had weekly seminars where everyone would gather in the conference room and listen to and observe speakers talk about new findings and/or graduate opportunities. We got a chance to meet with other PhD professors and researchers as well as enjoy delicious Thai food that was ordered for us during the meetings. I also got a chance to meet other undergraduates from different CUNY schools who were there for the fellowship. I still keep in touch with one of them. We helped each other out on understanding how to use the computer program when our mentors were busy.

With Vcell, I was able to construct what was actually happening inside the cell in presence or absence of the specific substrates Dr. Neves was experimenting with. The title of my research was, “Temporal Integration of Dopamine and Glutamate Inputs into the Striatum”. My research was based on the various levels/amounts of input of both stimulants: Dopamine and Glutamate. These neurotransmitters are involved in producing reward-dependent learning. I had to make a model of the effects of these two substrates in the striatum of the mouse brain where many diseases are seen, such as Parkinson’s disease, drug addiction and schizophrenia. I produced graphs that showed the trends of dopamine and glutamate (increase or decrease) when they were at higher doses and lower doses. I also produced charts that showed their affect on second messengers/ions such as: DAG, IP3, cAMP and cyctoplasmic Ca++. For more information about my research, here is a link to my abstract: http://sbcny.org/Pdfs/2010_program/2010_Summer_undergraduate_program_Hussaini.pdf.

Towards the end of the summer, the summer fellows, including myself, presented at a poster presentation. Here, we talked about the research and our posters and answered questions. This certainly boosted up my confidence, especially since it was the first research conference I had presented at.  Plus, I received a 2,500 stipend that summer as part of the program.  The stipend has actually gone up to $4000 dollars since I participated!  I did not continue my research there, but I did learn a lot about Dr. Neves' work and so much about biochemistry. This prepared me for the biochemistry class I took a year later. I was relieved to have some background knowledge on what I was learning.

             

The fellowship with SBCNY was a great experience, and I encourage my fellow undergraduates to apply for this opportunity. I think everyone should want to be a part of the Mount Sinai community, even if it is for one summer! You can definitely return to continue on your own research there alongside the faculty.

Finally, here's a little about myself.  Right now, I am looking forward to the end of this semester, which will be my last.  It's sad to see myself leave CUNY, CSI, and the Verrazano Honors Program, but at the same time I am super excited to step into the real world. Right now, my goal for real world is to pursue a Doctor of Optometry degree and do research in the field.  I've had two interviews so far and have two more to go.  We'll see what happens!  Don’t forget to check out the SBCNY summer research program website; the fellowship is a great opportunity.

Link to SBCNY summer opportunity:

http://sbcny.org/program_details.htm

Verrazano UNCF/Merck Fellow - A Summer Research Experience

Evelyn Okeke

Evelyn Okeke, a Biology major in the Verrazano Class of 2013, was named a 2012 UNCF/Merck Undergraduate Science Research Fellow.  One of the benefits of this prestigious fellowship is the opportunity to participate in a summer internship at a Merck facility.  Evelyn shares more about her experience working at Merck this summer.

Through a research scholarship from UNCF/Merck, which I was awarded for the 2012-2013 academic year, I had the opportunity to research alongside scientists at one of the Merck facilities here in the United States.  Merck is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in this country.

Research at Merck was a different experience for me.  During the academic year I conduct my research at the College of Staten Island in the neuroscience lab of Dr. Abdeslem El Idrissi, and last year during the summer of 2011, I had the opportunity to research in the Robinson lab at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine affiliated with the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology. With my nearly two years of research experience in an academic setting, I've learned that most of the research in academia is for nonprofit.  In contrast, Merck is a private company and seeks to make a profit with their research efforts.  I was a little hesitant to accept this opportunity because I was unfamiliar with how research is conducted in a profit driven environment.  However, right away it was obvious that I had made the right decision to accept the UNCF/Merck scholarship and participate in the required internship at Merck.

Evelyn on the UNCF/Merck Fellows Day

I found that Merck is a wonderful place to be. There are a vast number of opportunities to grow professionally.  “Whatever you want to do, you can do it at Merck” was the motto I came up with, and it is really true. You don’t necessarily have to be a scientist to work there; but, if you are a scientist, doing your research at Merck is like being in heaven. They have laboratories with state of the art equipment and everything a scientist can dream of that helps you move along fast.  The research there is so much faster than in academia.  The overall atmosphere at Merck is great. The company offers a great package to its employees, and everyone who works at the Merck Research Laboratories is truly talented when it comes to their subject of expertise.

I spent the ten weeks of my summer internship In the department of Protein Sciences at the Merck Research Laboratories in West Point, Pennsylvania.  I was working with a one-armed robot called “Piccolo."  This machine is a fully automated system for protein expression, cell growth, and protein purification. It was quite amazing to work with such a delicate and amazing piece of equipment.   In my project I had to optimize the recovery of HIS, GST, and AVI-tagged proteins using Piccolo, and at the end of my internship I had to give a presentation in which I presented my findings. While I was working on my project, I was able to expand my set of skills useful for working in the lab. For example, I learned how to culture cells, to induce protein expression, and to purify proteins.  This is everything Piccolo can do, but one can truly appreciate the robot if one knows what it takes to do it without the robot.
 

Forensic Science Fair

Evelyn (right) and colleagues

Starting from the first day of my internship, my mentor and my supervisor encouraged me to take advantage of everything Merck has to offer, and I really did.  Besides all the great department lunches and BBQs hosted by the Merck Research Laboratories, I visited the Merck Headquarter in Whitehouse Station, NJ.  I also requested to spend a day at their Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) facility to gain a deeper insight into the fields of Structural Biology and Chemistry. Furthermore, I had the chance to volunteer with other Merck employees at the Northen Children Services in Philadelphia, at which we hosted a Forensic Science Fair for the children in needs.

Overall, I had a great summer during which I expanded my knowledge and skill set.  I got to meet and work with great people, and this was an opportunity I am glad I took advantage of before I graduate.

To learn more about the UNCF/Merck Science Initiative, please visit http://umsi.uncf.org/sif.

Preparing for a Ph.D. - A CUNY Pipeline Fellow's Summer Experience

Christina Terracino, an English Literature major in the Verrazano Class of 2013, is a CUNY Pipeline Fellow.  The CUNY Pipeline Program is designed to provide educational and financial support to CUNY undergraduates from groups currently underrepresented in our nation's universities who are interested in pursuing the Ph.D. in preparation for college-level teaching and advanced research.  Christina completed the Pipeline Summer Institute and shares more about her experience there as well as her plans for her final academic year as an undergraduate. 

Hi again, everyone. This is Christina Terracino. I wrote an entry for the Verrazano Voyager at the beginning of the summer, looking ahead to my experience as a fellow in the CUNY Pipeline Honors Program. Now, I've completed the Pipeline Summer Institute. For most of the summer, I would commute to the CUNY Graduate Center and attend courses as a part of this fellowship. Since I am an English major, I was placed in the Humanities seminar in the mornings. The seminar was designed to imitate a graduate level seminar, to give students a glimpse into what a graduate course entails. Since all nine students in this seminar were from different majors, we focused on a wide variety of subjects, from literature to the visual arts to opera. This seminar introduced us to the general format of in-class presentations, homework assignments, and elevated discussions which are typical of graduate seminars. One aspect which I found helpful was the amount of criticism which we were required to read. As scholars who one day hope to enter academia, influential scholarly criticism will become a large portion of our expected knowledge. This seminar was work-intensive, but very rewarding. It was very valuable as a potential glimpse into graduate school.

As a part of the summer courses, all Pipeline students were required to take a course entitled Graduate School 101. This entire course focused on the application process for graduate school, particularly admission into Ph.D. programs. This course will be crucial to my graduate applications. It provided me with motivation to become extremely organized and focused. It also was a chance for all of us to share our concerns and uncertainties with our Pipeline instructor, who was able to answer all of our inquiries about the admissions process, and graduate study in general.  

Another course we took was entitled Critical Thinking and Writing. This course revolved around the infamous statement of purpose. Any graduate student, when asked, shudders in horror at this phrase. It is the single most important part of any graduate application (or so we are told), and is therefore an extremely pressure-filled part of the application process. As a part of the program, we were assigned "MAGNET" mentors: graduate students from the CUNY Graduate Center whose main goal is to help us write our statements of purpose. They are also there to mentor us through the application process as a whole, and to help us along through the stressful process of applying for, being accepted into, and beginning graduate studies. Just about all of the Pipeline fellows feel tremendous stress when it comes to writing the statement of purpose. This is a description of why we want to attend graduate school, why we are ready to do so, and why we will be a good fit for the specific graduate program we are applying to. Not due until December at the earliest, we all know that it will take all of the fall (as well as all of the summer when we began drafting) to produce a polished draft of this piece. 

I won't outline it in much detail, but the program also provided us with a GRE prep course. Now having taken my GRE, I am very grateful for that course, and for the confidence it provided me with to take this test. All of these courses filled my summer with challenging work, but they definitely forced me to develop some time-management skills, which I know will be beneficial as I move on towards graduate school. This fall will probably be hectic for me and all of my fellow Pipeline students, due to all of the work we need to keep up with in order to create stellar graduate applications. Although this is a stressful time, we encourage each other and look to each other for motivation, encouragement, and support. I'm very happy to be a member of this cohort of truly wonderful people. Now, it's all about working towards getting into the programs that will allow us to pursue whatever field we wish to study. Hopefully the process will be as smooth as possible for all of us.

I am looking forward to completing my graduate applications, and of course, continuing to work on my Pipeline Senior Thesis, which is another component of the CUNY Pipeline Program. There is so much to do, but I know that the end result (a great graduate program!) will make all of the hard work worthwhile. As I work on graduate applications, I wish everyone a great semester, and good luck to anyone else who is applying to graduate school this fall/winter!

To learn more about the CUNY Pipeline Program, please visit:
http://www.gc.cuny.edu/About-the-GC/Resource-Services/Educational-Opportunity-Diversity-Program.

Verrazano Student Accepted to CUNY Pipeline Program

We are pleased to announce that Christina Terracino, Verrazano Class of 2013, has been named as a CUNY Pipeline Fellow.  Christine will be sharing her experiences in the CUNY Pipeline Program over the next year on the Verrazano Voyager, and below she explains more about the program and her academic interests.

Hi everyone!

My name is Christina Terracino and I’m a fourth year Verrazano School student here at CSI. I’m majoring in English Literature and am looking forward to a long and productive career as a professor. In order to become a full-time professor, a PhD is generally required. I’m excited to move onto graduate school and receive my PhD in English Literature. I’ll be applying for these programs next fall and winter, and I can honestly admit that I’m a bit nervous about the intense application process. However, now that I’ve been accepted into the CUNY Pipeline Program at the CUNY Graduate Center, I’m a bit more confident and infinitely more excited.

The CUNY Pipeline Program is a fellowship which is designed to assist students who wish to pursue careers in research and college teaching. It is specifically for students from underrepresented groups in doctoral studies. I know this seems a bit ambiguous, so I will try to explain. This is not a fellowship simply for minority students. The Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity Programs at the Graduate Center is looking for students who are diverse, and who are from backgrounds which may or may not be considered a minority in the general sense of the term, but who are underrepresented in the nation’s PhD programs. According to the CUNY website, the following groups are underrepresented: Alaskan Natives, Asians, Blacks/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Italian Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders, and Women. (For more information on this, I would check out the diversity policies of CUNY, which can be found on the website at this link: http://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/ohrm/diversity/study.html). As an Italian American and a woman, I fit this bill and was able to apply. I would encourage anyone who feels they would bring diversity to doctoral studies to apply to this program. The only people who are specifically discouraged from applying are those who wish to pursue medicine or law.

The CUNY Pipeline is a program which includes a summer institute at the Graduate Center in Manhattan, and various colloquia throughout the academic year. It is a one-year program for those entering into their final year of undergraduate studies. The Summer Institute includes courses on graduate research as well as GRE preparation. A senior thesis is required, which fellows may present at the annual CUNY Pipeline conference. The program also includes assistance with many of the aspects of graduate school applications, such as the letter of intent. I am looking forward to receiving a level of structure from this program during what I’m sure can be a very stressful process. I’m also thrilled at the chance at attending a graduate seminar to get a first-hand idea of what it is really like to take a graduate course. I’m hoping that this program will give me a better overview of what professional conferences are like, since they are a large part of careers in research. My field is Renaissance literature, which I hope to learn much more about during the time I work on my Pipeline thesis. I’m working on developing a research thesis topic for the start of the Summer Institute.

This program is a great opportunity for anyone who knows they plan to pursue doctoral studies, I hope many other Verrazano students will apply in the future, and I’m looking forward to the great benefits I know I will receive from being a Pipeline fellow.