Josette Vigil-Scott Rodeo-Week 8

The final week of immersion was similar to week 7 as I continued to shadow/assist Alex Piacentini while he cultured cells and loaded them in a Flexcell in vitro model (shown below). 


Once again, I got to see how the final tendon construct is formed and placed under load via vacuum, and how cell viability is measured. This experimental group was placed under a 10% strain and compared to unloaded constructs (pictured). Subsequently, the midsubstance of the tendon was again resected and inflammatory markers were identified via qPCR  to ensure that the tendon was in an overloaded state. Once it is demonstrated that 10% strain causes sufficient overload, another round of experiments will be run with 10% strain controls and 10% strain YAP/TAZ inhibition treatments, to assess how this signaling interruption alters the expression profile of the tendon (measured via transcriptional profiling). 

I also saw my peers present their research in our weekly cohort meeting, and got to see some of the other projects that people worked on during the summer. We ended the program with a group dinner and got to see my cohort before heading back to Ithaca!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jenny Deng Week 1: Acclimating to a medical teaching hospital

Image
Me, Faith, Julia, and India met Dr. Jason Spector on the first day. He was welcoming and enthusiastic to have us shadow him and work in his lab. We met Sophia and Dr. Xue Dong from his research side and Dr. Jaime Bernstein and Dr. Ann Ni on the surgical side. The next day, we were invited to see a case Dr. Spector was in. This would be my first time in the operating room. For this particular case, a radial forearm flap was being utilized to reconstruct part of a tongue that was partially resected due to oral carcinoma. The ENT team were operating near the head and the plastic surgery team by the arm. It was less bloody than anticipated. A large Zeiss microscope was rolled into the OR for the microsurgery portion that required joining the donor and recipient site blood supply. The following day, we saw multiple other surgeries: a melanoma on the scalp required exposing the area in preparation for a second surgery with a graft. Everyone was excited about doing the surgery, and Dr. Specto
Read more

Cory Knox - Dr. Liston - Week 1

 After settling into our dorms at Lasdon, we were greeted by Carly and Kelly with a warm welcome and orientation to the hospital. The environment was fast paced and exciting - paired with seeing everyone in their business attire and enjoying a bagel breakfast, it was a fun way to start the week. We also had the opportunity to meet Dr. Min and Dr. Sabuncu, who shared with us their professional stories, and of course recommendations for things to do in the city. It was especially exciting to hear about Dr. Min's career and how he became the Chair of Radiology, as a person of color and someone who takes exciting risks that have led to his success today.  I was also able to meet with Dr. Liston's lab this week through one-on-ones and attending their weekly lab meeting. Dr. Liston's lab pairs psychiatry and neuroscience to characterize TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) as a treatment for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Their research spans neurophysiological
Read more

Anna Hazelwood/Dr. Evelyn Horn - Week 1

6/3/24 - 6/7/24 Week 1: This week began with a great introduction to what our summer plans will look like. It was great to meet Carly Skudin and Dr. Kelly Gillen at the start of the week and check in with our fellow classmates to see that everyone arrived safely. After this meeting on Monday, we were able to get our IDs, after which I headed over to my mentor Dr. Evelyn Horn's office on the 4th floor of the Starr pavilion to discuss the plans for the summer. We discussed that she has clinic days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but that many of the other doctors also see patients during the other days of the week. I was also able to shadow a clinic visit with cardiologist Dr. Udhay Krishnan to end the day.  Tuesday morning we had a great morning meeting where we were able to meet Dr. Min and Dr. Sabuncu, as well as Dr. Wang virtually. They gave us great insight for what to expect this summer. The remainder of the week consisted of many clinic visits where I observed cardiologists Dr. Hor
Read more