Instructions for Applicants

Applications are due to individual mentors (via email) no later than Friday, November 30th. An application consists of a resume or CV and a cover letter of interest (be sure to address why are you interested in their specific research project). Application materials for a project should be attached to one email with the subject: "Biomedical Research Mentoring Program Application."

In your letter of interest, please be sure to indicate whether or not, given your current obligations/plans, you would be able to continue the research experience throughout the 2013 summer.

After emailing applications to mentors, all applicants should complete this form to notify University Honors of the projects to which they have applied.

Questions about projects should be directed to the mentors. Do not contact the PIs (however, PI websites might provide a valuable big-picture overview of research).

All University Honors students are eligible; first- and second-year students are especially encouraged to apply.

Students will be directly contacted by mentors regarding any interview processes.

Complete List of Projects

Autism, Angelman, and Fragile X Syndrome:  Targeted Treatment Approaches using Mouse Models

Changes in ion transport status influence intestinal microbiota community dynamics

Finding a Bio-marker for Reading Disability (Dyslexia)- a Neuroimaging Study using fMRI

Identification of transcription regulators in the early fruit fly embryo

Interacting Environmental Factors During Rat Development that Affect Learning and Memory

Molecular mechanisms underlying respiratory tract cell differentiation

Neuroscience Research: the role of the prefrontal glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in stress and behavioral regulation

Obesity and Circadian Disruption Research

Research in peripheral nerve tumors to enable identification of novel therapeutic targets

Short-term high fat feeding as a way to protect the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury

Stress Response Research

Study the role of TRPV2 in cardiac hypertrophy

Transcriptional dynamics during Drosophila embryogenesis

Undergraduate Research in Breast Cancer Stem Cells

Undergraduate Research in development and regeneration of brain circuits

Undergraduate Research in hematopoietic stem cell biology

Undergraduate Research in Mitochondrial diseases

Undergraduate Research in Pollution-induced Exacerbation of Asthma

Undergraduate Research Project in Developmental Biology:  Which genes help form the lung and liver?

FILLED: Regulatory T cell and dendritic cell interaction during biliary atresia

Autism, Angelman, and Fragile X Syndrome: Targeted Treatment Approaches using Mouse Models

Mentor: Tori Schaefer, PhD (Research Associate)
PI: Craig Erickson, MD
Division: Psychiatry, CCHMC
Email: tori.schaefer@cchmc.org
Location: Building S, CCHMC

Our group runs the Angelman and Fragile X Syndrome Clinics and the Developmental Disabilities Translational Animal Research Lab. Angelman Syndrome (AS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by developmental and motoric delays. Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited form of intellectual disability and a common single gene cause of autism. In the translational animal lab, we use several mouse models of FXS and AS to better understand the pathophysiology of these disorders and to identify potential pharmacotherapy targets and biomarkers of treatment response. Once targets are identified, we treat FXS mice with drugs and determine if behavioral and neuronal deficits can be rescued. We are also interested in the early neuronal changes induced by these syndromes and how they affect behavior. This work contributes directly to future clinical trials in FXS and AS by identifying potential drug targets for treatment and serving as an initial indication of a drug’s efficacy and safety.

The prospective student’s interests will greatly influence the type of techniques they will learn and may involve animal behavior, neurochemistry, electrophysiology, and immunohistochemistry. The student will learn skills important for biomedical research, which may include: animal handling, rodent behavioral techniques and analysis, genotyping, agarose gel electrophoresis, protein analysis, immunostaining, or microscopy. There may also be opportunities for the student to meet and observe patients with AS and FXS in our clinic to better facilitate their understanding of translational research.

Changes in ion transport status influence intestinal microbiota community dynamics

Mentor: Melinda Engevik (Graduate Student)
PI: Roger Worrell, PhD
Department: Molecular & Cellular Physiology
Graduate Program: Systems Biology & Physiology
Email: engevima@mail.uc.edu
Location: UC Medical Science Building (MSB)

Research Description: Microbial dysbiosis, or the alteration of normal flora, plays a key role in complex diseases such as obesity, diabetes and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). A better understanding of how the intestinal environment affects the proliferation of bacteria groups is vital for creating better treatments of these complex chronic diseases. Ion transport is critical for maintaining the intestinal environment, but how ion transport affects the gut microbiota remains unclear. Our laboratory focuses on the intestinal microbiota in intestinal ion transporter knockout mouse models.

Role of the Honors Student: An honors student would work on a project examining intestinal bacteria in WT and colonic H+K+ ATPase –deficient mice. This project will involve genotyping mice from tail clippings and examining the bacteria by quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR) and culture methods. Students will be exposed to one or more of the following techniques: tissue histology, immunohistochemistry, flame photometry, chloridometry, western blots, RNA extraction, tissue culture and data analysis.

Finding a Bio-marker for Reading Disability (Dyslexia) - a Neuroimaging Study using fMRI

Mentor: Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, PhD (Research Fellow)
PI: Scott Holland, PhD
Division: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, CCHMC
Email: Tzipi.Horowitz-Kraus@cchmc.org
Location: CCHMC Building S

It is well known that individuals with reading disability (or Dyslexia) suffer from slow and inaccurate reading. What is less known is that these individuals also share deficits in other domains (e.g., memory, inhibition, speed of processing, etc.). Reading disability is currently diagnosed based on behavioral testing, teachers’ reports and questionnaires. This approach is problematic since it is not objective or sensitive to the deficit’s severity and might results in an inaccurate diagnosis.

In this clinical study, we aim to find a bio-marker that will help to objectively differentiate children with reading disabilities from typical readers. For this purpose we will use a neuropsychological battery and anatomical and functional data form functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Students will be able to take part in a neuroimaging study, including assessing the children for their reading and cognitive abilities and collecting the imaging data. They will also participate in behavioral and imaging data analyses.

Identification of transcription regulators in the early fruit fly embryo

Mentor: Junbo Liu, PhD (Research Associate)
PI: Jun Ma, PhD (Professor)
Division: Biomedical Informatics and Developmental Biology, CCHMC
Email: junbo.liu@cchmc.org
Location: CCHMC, Bldg R.3403

During early fruit fly embryonic development, there is an important stage called Maternal-Zygotic transition. This is the stage where maternally provided materials are degraded and new materials are produced by embryonic genes. These genes control embryonic patterning, cellularization, and sex determination during early embryonic development.
The honors student will aim to identify genes affecting transcription processes at this stage by using genetic and cell biology tools. The honors student will learn how to use the microscope, do a cross, identify phenotype, collect and fix eggs, perform in situ hybridization, capture images and perform data analysis.

Interacting Environmental Factors During Rat Development that Affect Learning and Memory

Mentor: Robyn Amos-Kroohs (graduate student)
PI: Michael Williams PhD
Division: Neurology (CCHMC)
Program: Molecular and Developmental Biology
Email: Robyn.amos-kroohs@cchmc.org
Location: Building R, CCHMC

In children with increased manganese exposure, the resulting toxicity has been associated with decreased IQ, ADHD-like symptoms, and other behavioral and cognitive deficiencies. This is possibly exacerbated by factors such as low social economic status environments and iron deficiency, the most prevalent nutritional problem in the world. Previous work in our lab has shown some cognitive and behavioral deficits in a rat model of manganese exposure, including decreased anxiety and increased errors in learning a maze.

I am currently working on a rat model that explores factors that may increase the likelihood of manganese neurotoxicity. The combination of developmental stress and manganese exposure is thought to produce additive effects. Iron deficiency is associated with increased manganese deposition in the brain. Intending to represent a previously published ‘real world’ situation, this model uses developmental stress and iron deficiency to explore the various cognitive and behavioral deficits associated with clinical studies of developmental manganese overexposure. It will also be used to look at the underlying molecular mechanisms behind these interactions and to explore methods of detecting toxic exposure. The overall goal of my work is to associate neurobiological defects or malformations with behavioral and cognitive deficits. This type of project will involve several different aspects, at both the whole animal and molecular levels, including examination of neurotransmitter systems, brain metabolism and mitochondrial function, and animal behavior. Current projects will be focused on a study behaviorally phenotyping these animals and another involving quantification of metal transporters in various brain regions.

Role of the Honors Student: An Honors student working with me would be involved in learning animal behavior and cognitive assessment. These include spatial and route based learning paradigms as well as different behavioral assays. Students will also have the opportunity to observe molecular techniques as used in lab. The student would leave this experience with the ability to prepare and plan a behavioral study, as well as proficiency in the above assays.

Molecular mechanisms underlying respiratory tract cell differentiation

PI and Mentor: Debora Sinner, PhD (Research Instructor)
Division: Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology
Location: CCHMC-Research Foundation Building R
Email: Debora.Sinner@cchmc.org
(PI is the mentor for this project)

My research interest lies in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying respiratory tract development. Currently, my lab is focusing on these questions: a) how are the cartilaginous rings of the trachea and bronchi formed? and b) how does the interaction between different tissues of the embryonic lung promote pulmonary growth and differentiation of the pulmonary microvasculature? The goal of these studies is to generate basic knowledge necessary for treatment of conditions affecting neonates and premature babies such as tracheomalacia (trachea without cartilage) and lung hypoplasia (small and underdeveloped lung). To perform these studies we utilize transgenic mouse models and in vitro systems such as embryonic lung explant culture and cell culture.

Prospective students will learn and perform DNA isolation, PCR, whole mount in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Students will also be exposed to other techniques such as gene expression analysis (RT-PCR) micro-dissection, microscopy and imaging.

Neuroscience Research: the role of the prefrontal glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in stress and behavioral regulation

Mentor: Jessica McKlveen (Graduate Student)
PI: Dr. James Herman
Department: Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, UC College of Medicine
Graduate Program: Neuroscience
Email: mcklvejm@mail.uc.edu
Location: MDI, 2170 E Galbraith Rd, Blue Ash

The Herman lab focuses on understanding the neurocircuitry involved in regulation of stress. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by stress dysregulation and prefrontal cortical pathology. For many patients, treatments fail to control symptoms, thus it is imperative to understand the underlying causes in order to develop effective therapeutics.

My project tests the role of the prefrontal glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in stress and behavioral regulation. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are stress hormones, secreted at the culmination of the stress response, that bind to GR throughout the body to modulate other genes and limit their own secretion. GCs are very important for memory formation, which is why individuals can recall certain traumatic or stressful events in vivid detail (e.g. where you were on September 11th). Eventually, most individuals learn to dissociate triggers (e.g. sirens) with the traumatic experience. Patients with PTSD are unable to properly extinguish memories of their experience. Our group postulates that the failure to ‘forget’ traumatic memories is linked to inappropriate stress hormone signaling in the brain. Thus, a student in the lab would be involved in experiments testing the role of the prefrontal GR in the successful extinction of fear.

The honors student would have the opportunity to use state-of-the art, cutting-edge methods (viral gene therapy) to address the key question of stress hormone signaling and neural processing of fear in rats. The student would be able to learn and assist in any of the following: behavioral testing (including fear conditioning, extinction, and extinction recall), chronic variable stress, immunohistochemistry, and microscopic image analysis.

NOTE: This laboratory is NOT on campus, but a 15min drive away at 2170 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45237.

Obesity and Circadian Disruption Research

Mentor: Deanna Arble, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow)
PI: Randy Seeley, PhD
Department: Internal Medicine – Endocrinology, UC
Email: deanna.arble@gmail.com
Location: MDI Institute- 2170 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45237

The Seeley laboratory is interested in the brain’s role in obesity and energy regulation. In particular, we use bariatric surgery, a highly successful procedure that can permanently reduce body weight, as a means to understand the underlying biology of energy homeostasis.

An honors student in this laboratory would work side by side with a post-doctoral fellow on experiments involving obesity, bariatric surgery, and circadian disruption. Research on circadian disruption is a quickly growing, exciting field that focuses on how disruption of the biological clock, as happens during “jet lag”, night shift work, or late-night eating, can impact health. The selected honor student will obtain great experience with molecular and behavior laboratory techniques, animal research, biomedical engineering, and clinical/translational research. Specific opportunities include (but are not limited to) genotyping, hormonal analysis of blood plasma, gene expression, post-operative care, data analysis, and daily animal care.

NOTE: This laboratory is NOT on campus, but a 15 min. drive away at 2170 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45237.

Research in peripheral nerve tumors to enable identification of novel therapeutic targets

Mentor: Ami Patel, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow)
PI: Nancy Ratner, PhD
Divisions: Experimental Hematology and Oncology at CCHMC
Email: ami.patel@cchmc.org
Location: CCHMC Bldg S7.342

The Ratner laboratory’s research is focused on studying tumors of the nervous system. Neurofibromatosis type 1 is associated with tumors in children and adults. The only treatment is surgical resection; however, most tumors re-occur and patients experience debilitating tumors of the nervous tissue which are highly painful.

My research project is focused on identification of novel genes critical to survival of these cancer cells in vitro. In the long term we hope to develop therapeutics to target these genes to treat neurofibromatosis patients. An honors student who joins our laboratory will learn basic molecular biology techniques such as PCR and cloning that will contribute directly toward development of a new mouse model for this tumor type.

Note: The incoming student can also work on experiments using human cancer cell lines if they have been vaccinated for Hepatitis B.

Short-term high fat feeding as a way to protect the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury

Mentor: Lauren Haar (graduate student)
PI: W. Keith Jones, PhD
Department: Pharmacology & Cell Biophysics
Graduate Program: Systems Biology & Physiology- COM
Email: haarll@mail.uc.edu
Location: CVC, College of Medicine

Work in our lab focuses on preventing damage to the heart after a heart attack. To study this, we use an animal model of heart attack (called ischemia/reperfusion injury) and treat the animals before they undergo surgery for this injury with agents that protect the heart tissue from dying. Currently, we have found that giving an animal high fat food before the injury causes the size of the injury to decrease. This is an interesting discovery because usually a high fat diet is considered contrary to heart healthy. The main difference between our model of feeding and feeding which results in obesity, diabetes, and atherosclerosis is the duration. Our feeding is a very short exposure to high fat chow, and we are interested to see how this changes the heart to protect it in situations of ischemia/ reperfusion injury.

An honors student interested in this lab will work with senior level graduate students to investigate the cause for this protection. Projects are dependent on individual student interest, but can range from feeding animals and monitoring response to performing PCR reactions to look at gene profiles changing in cardiac samples, or performing cell culture to look at a particular protein pattern.

Stress Response Research

Mentor: Brent Myers, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow)
PI: James P. Herman, PhD
Department: Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience (Metabolic Diseases Institute)
Email: brent.myers@uc.edu
Location: MDI Institute- 2170 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45237

Stress has a profound effect on public health as long-term stress exposure leads to illnesses including depression and hypertension. The brain is at the center of the integrative processes orchestrating stress responses and Dr. Herman's laboratory focuses on the structural and functional aspects of brain stress integration. We use gene knockdown and overexpression rat models to assess the role of specific neurocircuits in stress regulation and pathology.

My research is focused on identifying the anatomical and neurochemical mechanisms underlying chronic stress pathologies, both behavioral and physiological. Students will be encouraged to choose projects that most fit their interests and goals. Specific opportunities include, but are not limited to, rodent brain histology, plasma hormone measurement, and behavioral analysis.

Note: This laboratory is at the Reading Campus, approx. 15 minute drive north of Clifton.

Study the role of TRPV2 in cardiac hypertrophy

Mentor: Sheryl E. Koch, PhD (Research Associate)
PI: Jack Rubinstein, MD
Department: Cardiovascular Diseases, Internal Medicine, UC
Email: kochse@ucmail.uc.edu
Location: College of Medicine, CVC 3950

Our lab focuses on the heart, specifically on a protein we believe is important for the proper function of the heart, TRPV2. We have been studying TRPV2 as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of heart disease. We have planned a study to determine if TRPV2 plays a role in cardiac hypertrophy (thickening of the heart muscle). To this end, we will be employing a few different methods to increase hypertrophy in mice, including using exercise (running on a wheel or treadmill) and a surgical model. For a comparison, we will be using a mouse that is missing the gene for TRPV2 (a “knock-out” or KO). We will look at the heart function using cardiac ultrasound, with a state of the art mouse echocardiography machine. We will also be looking into the expression levels of various proteins using RNA and protein techniques. Our primary goals are to determine the difference in amount of hypertrophy between the normal and KO mice, to determine which proteins are influenced by the hypertrophy and whether or not those proteins interact with TRPV2.

Role of the Honors Student: The possible studies the student could be involved in include: exercising mice on wheels or treadmills, performing echocardiography on mice and analyzing the subsequent data, isolating RNA and protein, running western blots for protein expression and quantitative real-time PCR for RNA/gene expression.

Transcriptional dynamics during Drosophila embryogenesis


Mentor: Feng He, Ph.D (Postdoctoral Fellow)

PI: Jun Ma, PhD
Division: Developmental Biology and Biomedical Informatics (CCHMC)

Email: feng.he@cchmc.org
Location: Bulding S, CCHMC

Dr. Jun Ma's lab and my current research probes into the fundamental mechanisms of transcription regulation in fruit fly embryos. The majority of the data are generated by RNA in situ hybridization and protein immunostaining in developing embryos, but I utilize many different methods across the field including molecular and genetic manipulations, computer quantification, and simulations, and mathematical modeling.

A prospective student will help in a project to screen for factors regulating the transcriptional dynamics in the context of early embryonic development. The student will learn how to do genetic crosses of flies and maybe some simple molecular experiments like DNA mini-preparation. He/She will also be introduced to RNA in situ hybridization in embryos, Confocal imaging and bioinformatics.

Undergraduate Research in Breast Cancer Stem Cells

Mentor: Lisa Privette Vinnedge, PhD (Research Instructor)
PI: Susanne Wells, PhD
Division: Oncology, Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, CCHMC
Email: lisa.privette@cchmc.org
Location: Building S, CCHMC

Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related death in American women, and despite the availability of multiple treatment options, late stage cancer continues to come with a poor prognosis and high mortality. Cancer stem cells are suspected to be one of the causes for drug resistance and tumor recurrence in many breast cancer patients. Our lab studies the molecular pathways that support breast cancer stem cell proliferation and drug resistance as well as pathways that promote breast cancer metastasis in late stage disease.

An undergraduate in this lab will get substantial hands-on experience in many molecular biology techniques standard and 3-dimensional cell culture models, PCR, western blotting, immunohistochemistry, microscopy, and more. Students will also discuss and interpret their data regularly with their mentor. This project will help us elucidate the causes of breast cancer metastasis and/or drug resistance.

Note: Student will use human cancer cell lines, Hepatitis B vaccination is required (paid for by mentor).

Undergraduate Research in development and regeneration of brain circuits

Mentor: Zirong Gu (Graduate Student)
PI: Yutaka Yoshida, PhD
Division: Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children`s Hospital
Graduate Program: Molecular and Developmental Biology
Email: Zirong.Gu@cchmc.org
Location: Building S, CCHMC

Dr. Yoshida`s lab laboratory focuses on corticospinal circuits in mice to investigate the development and regeneration of brain circuits. Corticospinal circuits connect the cerebral cortex with the spinal cord and play essential roles in our voluntary movement. Research in the laboratory explores the formation of these circuits during development and how the organization of these circuits control specific behaviors. We also study how corticospinal circuits respond to spinal cord injury with the goal of developing therapies for promoting regeneration. To do so, we utilize mouse genetic and transynaptic tracing virus to monitor and visualize the connectivity of corticospinal circuits during development and regeneration.

My research is focused on Semaphorins, which are a class of secreted and transmembrane proteins that act as axonal growth cone guidance molecules. Specifically, I found the transmembrane Semaphorins are involved in the pruning or developmental degeneration of corticospinal circuits, while the secreted Semaphorins functions as a repellent to sculpt the axonal arborization pattern of corticospinal circuits. Future studies are going to utilize a transynaptic tracing virus to examine how the connectivity of corticospinal circuits is altered in Semaphorin mutant mice. Mouse behavioral tests will be used to assess the functional consequences of mis-wiring of corticospinal circuits in these mutants.

Prospective students undergoing training under me will gain substantial theoretical knowledge and hands on experience in mouse genetics as well as a number of molecular biology techniques such as neuronal culture, PCR, Immunostaining, fluorescence microscopy etc. Students also can be exposed to more advanced experimental techniques that coincide with their interest, such as animal surgery, transynaptic tracing virus, and behavioral tests.

Undergraduate Research in hematopoietic stem cell biology

Mentor: Jeff Vassallo, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow)
PI: Hartmut Geiger, PhD
Division: Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology, CCHMC
Email: Jeffrey.vassallo@cchmc.org
Location: Building S

Hematopoiesis is the process by which mature blood cells form from hematopoietic stem cells. Abnormal hematopoiesis and stem cell regulation are associated with a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from anemia to cancer. However, hematopoietic stem cells are also central to clinical cell therapy (i.e., stem cell transplantation). This project is directed towards understanding the role of various signaling pathways involved with mobilizing hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation therapy. Understanding the role of specific signaling pathways involved with hematopoietic stem cell mobilization may provide a rationale for therapeutic interventions in stem cell transplantation.

The student that joins our laboratory will learn animal handling, genotyping, cell culture, and basic molecular biology techniques such as PCR that will contribute directly to the research project.

Undergraduate Research in Mitochondrial diseases

Mentor: Xinjian Wang, PhD (Research Associate)
PI: Taosheng Huang, MD, Ph.D.
Division: Human Genetics
Email: xinjian.wang@cchmc.org
Location: Building S, CCHMC

My primary interest is to integrate clinical care, genetic testing and translational/basic research to improve care for children with mitochondrial diseases. Mitochondria play a critical role in many fundamental cellular functions. First, mitochondria are the “powerhouses” of cells, which produce over 90% of the energy required by a cell through the process of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), an oxygen-requiring process that converts food to adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Genetically, mitochondria are assembled from proteins encoded in the mitochondrial genome as well as the nuclear genome. An estimated 1,500 genes are required for mitochondrial assembly. Mutations in those nuclear genes and the mitochondrial genome cause a large spectrum of clinical phenotypes.
The incoming students will learn to perform cell culture, how to make reagents, and to assay the mitochondrial functions.

Undergraduate Research in Pollution-induced Exacerbation of Asthma

Mentor: Eric Brandt, PhD (Research Associate)
PI: Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD/PhD
Division: Asthma Research, CCHMC
Email: eric.brandt@cchmc.org
Location: CCHMC, Building S

Our lab is focused on understanding the gene-environmental interactions involved in allergic diseases, most notably asthma. Pollutants such as diesel exhaust particles (DEP) have been shown to exacerbate asthma. Using mouse models mimicking classic features of asthma, we will investigate the impact of DEP exposure on the immune system and its contribution to asthma exacerbation. We have demonstrated that DEP exposure increases the proportion of lung T-cells that express IL-17A (Th17 cells) whereas allergen exposure increases IL-13 (Th2 cells). Co-exposure to both, DEP and the allergen house dust mite (HDM), further increases lung Th2 cells, but not Th17 cells. In order to identify the cells and innate pathways that lead to these Th2/Th17 responses, we have turned to a reductionist in vitro approach looking at the impact of exposure to DEP and/or HDM on the ability of epithelial cells and dendritic cells to release cytokines able to promote Th2 and Th17 differentiation.

An undergraduate student working in our lab would have opportunities to learn basic immunology, commonly used laboratory techniques (RNA isolation from tissue samples, PCR, ELISA, Western blotting, immunostaining, FACS analysis) as well as participate in all aspects of our murine experimental asthma protocols.

Note: The student will work with human cell lines so hepatitis B vaccination is required.

FILLED: Regulatory T cell and dendritic cell interaction during biliary atresia

This project already has a mentor/student match confirmed and is no longer accepting applications.

Mentor: Celine Silva-Lages, PhD (Research Associate)
PI: Alexander Miethke, MD
Division: Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (CCHMC)
Email: Celine.Silva-Lages@cchmc.org
Location: Bldg S at CCHMC

Biliary atresia (BA), the fibroinflammatory obstruction of the extrahepatic biliary tree, is the most common cause for pediatric liver transplantation worldwide. BA is uniquely restricted to the early neonatal period in human and in murine rotavirus (RRV)-induced BA. In Dr. Miethke’s lab, we have shown that the postnatal lack of regulatory T cells (Tregs) which can control the immune response may be responsible of the aberrant immune response in RRV-induced BA in our mouse model. We have also shown that adoptive transfer of Tregs prevents RRV-induced BA. My research project is focused on understanding how Tregs can control the immune response during RRV infection.

Role of the Honors Student: The student can learn molecular biology techniques including DNA extraction from mice tails, PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis. The student can also learn cell isolation from murine tissues and cell staining for flow cytometry.