Tackling Cancer Research as a Chemist and a Biologist

Tackling Cancer Research as a Chemist and a Biologist

Mohamed Al Sharif is a Verrazano alum, Class of 2018. He majored in Biology with a minor in Arabic, and is a fan of complicated questions, in and outside of research!

Mohamed, back row, at CSI's Undergraduate Research Conference with research team

Since my first year at college, I have been actively involved in two independent research studies. While taking a General Chemistry course in my first semester at CSI, my professor invited me to conduct research in her laboratory during the summer. My research involved performing computer-based simulations to study the interactions between biomolecules. My project later on advanced to study the transfer free energies of drugs that potentially target cancer cells and cells involved in Alzheimer’s disease. However, since chemistry and biology are intertwined, I wanted to additionally perform research in a biology laboratory to correlate between theoretical data obtained from my chemistry research project with actual data obtained from a laboratory in biology, and I did! The following semester, I started working in a laboratory that studies the effects of anti-cancer agents derived from plant compounds on cervical cancer cells. It always felt rewarding to obtain data that was promising in the field of cancer. Additionally, being awarded the CSI Undergraduate research award twice, the Dean of Science and Technology Undergraduate Research Fellowship twice and an NSF Research Fellowship in Biochemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, supported my research. I am most proud of earning authorship on an article published in a scientific journal for the contributions I have made to these studies. Knowing that my dedication and commitment to research will provide a solution to a major health issue has increased my passion for conducting research. I am confident that during the time I have been involved in research, I have developed laboratory and critical thinking skills that will allow me to plan and carry out future experiments independently and effiecntly.

Studying Child Development Leads to Personal Growth

 Pascale Saad is an alumna of the Verrazano Class of 2018. She majored in Psychology with a minor in Disability Studies.

My independent research in the Child Development Lab at the College of Staten Island is a major experience that impacted my career choice. I knew I wanted to work with children in the future, which why I decided to join this lab, but I did not know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to work. By listening to my colleagues speak about their experiences, their past and present work on research during lab meetings, it lead me to choose a career in occupational therapy

Pascale, lower right, with research team

I have been involved in this lab for almost two years working under the guidance of Dr. Sarah Berger. My research project focuses on the relationship between sleep and locomotor problem-solving in newly walking infants. This research allowed me to learn about infant motor development and their sleep patterns, how to work with children and their families, and how to conduct myself in a professional environment with my colleagues. The way Dr. Berger runs this lab allowed me to have plenty of hands on experience. As a senior member in the lab, I helped recruit study participant at farmers markets, fairs, daycares, and libraries; participated in multiple data collections for different projects, coded and analyzed the data for my project, and created personalized thank you gifts for the participants. By attending many recruitment events to connect with children and their families, I strengthened my communication skills. I have become more comfortable in approaching families during these events and explaining the research to them. Another benefit to joining this lab is increasing my cooperative skills as I work with others. I assisted Dr. Berger in training the new members that joined the lab in all of the lab duties also sharing what I’ve learned during my time in the lab with them. Being able to train new members showed me how much I have grown in regards to my knowledge in infant research since I first started working with Dr. Berger.

Presenting at the Undergraduate Research Conference

My experience in this lab has shown me a perspective of psychology that was unexpected. I never would have imagined being a part of something that is so big and to achieve all of the accomplishments that I did. This environment is different than being in a classroom because I see where the data is coming from instead of just reading about it in the textbooks. I did not expect to be a part of an actual, ongoing research project from its beginning and to be able to present my research in multiple conferences during my time at the lab. I presented a poster on the Effects of Sleep on Motor Problem-Solving in Infants at the CSI Undergraduate Conference in Staten Island, New York. I was also an author on a poster, Regress for Success: Returning to Crawling Places Attentional Demands on New Walkers, presented at the Cognitive Development Society in Portland, Oregon though I could not attend.

Research is (and isn't!) child's play!

This project is related to my course of study because my hope is to become an occupational therapist in the future and work with children. I am the first person in my family to attend higher education and my research experience has had its challenges because I did not know what to expect. I grew so much as a person from freshman to senior year. I was completely lost coming from a small sheltered high school. I needed to find my way through college on my own including making decisions such as picking a major, building my resume and finding the right experiences needed for graduate school. Growing up and even until today, my parents have always stressed the importance of an education which prompted this to take a big role in my life. All of my accomplishments including my acceptance to the conference for International Congress of Infants Studies, which will take place in July of 2018, is another opportunity to grow academically and professionally. This conference is well known in infant research, therefore participating in this conference will impact my career in multiple ways. The environment will be new for me because it will be my first time being a part of an international conference. I will be surrounded by experts who have been in the field for many years which will allow me to see different aspects of research on infants to expand my knowledge.

Vincent Crescente Explores the Research on Effective Website Design

Vincent Crescent, Verrazano Class of 2018, majored in Computer Science.

I was nearly complete with a Communications major when I realized that I had a passion for computer science. So I switched gears and plugged away at courses. In a way, I moved from thinking about design from the user’s perspective to wanting to work on the back end. I supposed it’s not surprising that when it came to developing a capstone project, I gravitated toward reintegrating the two parts of my academic background.

Vincent built several websites highlighting different eye-catching attributes

My project was very interesting and challenging in many ways. I learned a lot about web development and the large range of choices a designer can make to reach a certain aesthetic. I wanted to find a common answer between designers on what to put in a page to make users feel a desired emotion. I found that knowing your audience well is key to creating such page. One thing I learned is that it’s possible to design your website with eye catching content that ensures it will catch the user’s eye. One student I reviewed used an algorithm that creates a webpage that can most likely make the user look at three different pieces of content in the order that you’d want them to. I find that interesting! There is an abundant amount of research on each attribute a website can have. If I continued researching this topic I would probably focus on color, considering it is the most difficult and most interesting to me. Color, psychology and computer science is a complex but intriguing mix and I look forward to learning more about it. What I would do differently, is organize and write clean code. I used a Udemy course to learn HTML, CSS, Javascript and JQuery to learn web design and create this project beginning in September 2017. I noticed as time went on I would write cleaner code toward the end of the project. Next time I write code for a web page it will be better organized, and it will be because of the lessons I learned in this project. Overall, this project was difficult, interesting and fun, challenging yourself and getting out of your comfort zone is a great way to learn about yourself and grow.

Elizabeth Rassi Deduces that Deductions are Fascinating

Elizabeth Rassi is a Verrazano graduate from the Class of 2018. She majored in Accounting with minors in Business Finance and Business Management

Helping prepare gifts as part of a charity

Being a part of the Verrazano honors program encouraged me to get departmental honors in addition to completing the capstone project. During my junior year, I remember freaking out about how I was ever going to figure out a topic or even complete this project. Taking the Verrazano Capstone class was what calmed my nerves and allowed me to narrow down my research topic. As an accounting major, I did not expect to find research that could actually intrigue me because I'd never thought about research in accounting, only the practice of accounting. After much trial and error, the title of my project became “The Effects of Changes to the Charitable Contribution Tax Deduction.” At the start, I knew I wanted my research to be on taxation because that is where my interest lies. However, I had no idea there would be so much discussion about the charitable contribution deduction specifically. I found myself eager to continue researching all the proposals that looked to change the deduction and understand how these changes would impact both individuals and the charities themselves. During the ending stage of my research, I was offered a position at a local accounting firm where I got to prepare tax returns for individuals. This helped with my research because I was gaining hands-on experience and noticed how many individuals donated to charities compared to how many were actually able to claim the deduction for their donations. Not only was I preparing tax returns, the couple I worked for also ran a few charities which I was able to learn about. I helped them prepare gift boxes to raise money and send out newsletters to keep donors updated on the success of the charity.

Elizabeth investigated taxation in charitable giving

This project turned out to be a great experience and thankfully it was not as scary as I expected. I was able to expand my knowledge and become aware of the importance of keeping up with changes in the tax code. Having a faculty mentor who was also interested in taxation was essential for the successful completion of my project. I am grateful that I was given this opportunity because without being a part of the Verrazano Honors Program I would have never done something like this. I was taken out of my comfort zone but, I am proud of the work I was able to accomplish with the help of many others. Additionally, this research helped confirm that I want my career to focus on taxation once I graduate. I look forward to doing more research to see what happens with the deduction in the future.

Michael Scorie on the History of Psycholinguistics and Finishing his Capstone

Michael Scorie, Verrazano Class of 2018, earned majors in Psychology and Philosophy, and minors in English, East Asian Studies, and History.

A twelve-page essay on the topic of my choice? How easy I thought. After all, I had already written papers of similar length for several classes during my college career. However, it soon became clear to me that this was not just another paper.

            I half-heartedly started my capstone paper in the Spring of 2017. I say half-heartedly because for me, it was a long, drawn-out process. Part of the reason for my apprehension in completing this assignment was because of a combination of school and work that competed for my attention. However, I also realized that this project was in-a-way symbolic of the end of my time at CSI. Having spent three years here, this project lingering over my head was a constant reminder that I would soon have to apply for graduate schools and pay much more serious attention to my future. As someone who hates (or at the very least dislikes) change, I was not looking forward to making potentially life-altering decisions and leaving the place that I had grown so comfortable with and accustomed to.

Though I got off to a slow start, once I organized my thoughts into an outline and started doing research, I really rather enjoyed completing this paper. As I was able to write about any academic subject, I decided to write about the history of psycholinguistics. What I previously learned from my classes very nicely complimented the new information I was learning. I have always been interested in studying how language influences human psychology and vice versa, and this paper gave me the freedom and impetus to do so. As I intend to become a school psychologist, I feel as though what I learned about language can be very helpful when working with children in and out of a school setting. In addition, what I learned can also just as easily be applied to an adult population.

Getting the work done at the library

One of the many things that I learned from my research is that true mastery of a language is very unlikely to occur if one begins to learn said language following puberty. This is a result of a decrease in neuroplasticity in the brain. However, what really stood out to me is that the same holds true for users of signed languages. People who learn a sign language in childhood are far more likely to demonstrate mastery of it than those who learn it in adulthood. In hindsight, I realize that this probably doesn’t surprise anyone all that much. After all, even if you’re one of the few people who knows more than “si” after four years of high school Spanish or Italian (I certainly don’t fall into that category), you still probably find yourself struggling at least a little to keep up with native speakers. This is understandable, and a crucial aspect of what psycholinguistics is all about.

I also learned just how much language can be used to sway psychological research. For example, framing effect is a phenomenon where one’s choice is dependent on how two or more stimuli are presented. In one study I reviewed, native Thai speakers were more willing to select a risky option when presented said options in English than in Thai (with researchers hypothesizing that this is due to first languages being associated with early basic emotions). Perhaps most interesting to me however was wording effect. This occurs when words or the ordering of words can sway a studies results. One of the main causes of this is when researchers use synonyms to describe something when another word may be more fitting. I think this is something that most of us encounter in our lives. Despite having similar or even identical definitions, do “good,” “okay,” and “fine” really have the same meaning?

            I had a lot of initial apprehension in completing this project, but I’m glad that I (eventually) finished it. I learned a lot, and even the knowledge that won’t help me in my future career is still very much welcome. I’m grateful to my faculty advisor who helped me organize my ideas and motivated me to meet and exceed my deadlines, and I’m grateful to the Verrazano School for four years of amazing opportunities.