RaMP-ing up: University Honors Program kick-starts students in STEMM research

The second-year medical sciences major has spent the Spring 2026 semester participating in the Biomedical Research and Mentoring Program (RaMP), one of the University Honors Program’s (UHP) best-known, pre-approved honors experiences. Along with first-year medical sciences major Marisa Poff, Lefton has devoted much of her semester to the Cornwall / Goh Lab at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, learning hands-on research techniques under the mentorship of Qingnian Goh, PhD.

Abhinaya Durairaj, a second-year neuroscience major and Spring 2026 RaMP participant, described the program as “a stepping stone… so I could see if I really love research enough to do it for the rest of my life.” Along with first-year medical sciences major Avi Maun, Durairaj has spent her semester in a lab at UC’s College of Medicine, where she is mentored by Yasmin Sahlloul, a PhD student in UC's neuroscience graduate program.

Most students participating in RaMP are in their first or second year at UC, and the program is typically their first experience in a working lab. For Poff and Lefton, this meant — among other things — learning essential wet lab skills involved in the cell culture process, such as microscopy, pipetting and immunofluorescent staining. Maun and Durairaj were also trained in microscopy and pipetting as part of their work this spring; Durairaj even learned an RNAscope protocol, which requires carefully timed stages during a seven-hour duration. “Wet lab involves lab coats, gloves, you know, all the ‘scientific’ stuff you see in the movies,” said Maun.

Both labs also incorporate digital research techniques into the RaMP experience. Poff has been trained to capture images of the muscle cells that she and Lefton helped culture, and to use specialized software to record additional information about them based on those images.

Maun had the opportunity to help parse recent publications from other labs that are connected to the work of his host lab. He said it's the most valuable aspect of his time in RaMP. “It’s not just something I’ll do for this lab, it’s everywhere in life — learning how to take a big block of text and information and simplify it in your own head and analyze it,” said Maun.

RaMP participants are able to describe their host labs’ overall projects, including the human impact they hope the research will make on a larger scale. Lefton offered a “30,000-foot view” of the Cornwall / Goh lab’s interest in neonatal brachial plexus injuries and the resulting muscle contractures: “What our lab does is study, at a basic science level, how those muscles grow lengthwise… so Marisa and I are analyzing different genetic factors that may influence that.” Poff added, gesturing to a nearby tray of RNA on ice: “If you lower a specific gene’s level of expression, what will happen?”

Maun and Durairaj, whose host lab (under the direction of Temugin Berta, PhD) investigates the connection between inflammation and pain in conditions such as fibromyalgia, both cited the exploration as deeply connected to their own interests in medicine and neuroscience, respectively.

The first thing many RaMP students mention when talking about their experiences in the program, however, isn’t the techniques they’re learning in the lab. Instead, they jump to describe a sense of community within their host labs, a deep gratitude to their mentors and a growing confidence that they’re interested in research for the long term.

RaMP concludes with a day of presentations, as this spring’s cohort describes their host labs’ projects and share what they’ve learned within the program. This year’s presentations will take place on Wednesday, April 22; interested UC community members are welcome to stop by TUC 400A and B between 9-11 a.m. to hear directly from the students about their mentored semesters of research.

Featured image: Stacey Lefton (L) and Marisa Poff (R). Photo/Provided.