Sharfi Farhana of West Haven, Conn., and Tim Currier of Danvers,
Mass., both '09, are participating in five weeks of summer research in
a neuroscience lab with Associate Professor of Biology Herman Lehman as
part of the STEP/Dreyfus program for incoming freshmen interested in
the sciences. "I was attracted to the STEP program mainly because I had
prior research experience and really loved it. I figured this would be
a great way to not only do more research, but also to meet other
students, professors, and familiarize myself with the campus, all
before orientation," said Currier.
Farhana and Currier spent the first three weeks of their research working on the three other projects in the lab with upperclassmen, "to understand the project as a whole and get familiar with the lab," explained Currier.
For the last two weeks, Farhana and Currier are working on a project of their own titled "Immunoprotein response to foreign invasion in manduca sexta." Their goal is to study which proteins respond to an attack by E. coli bacteria in manduca sexta, commonly known as the tobacco hornworm. To do this they inject manduca with E. coli and bled them at different time intervals. They then run gels of the hemoglobin (a protein carried by red blood cells) to see what proteins are released or found in the blood under the circumstance of a bacterial invasion. They have found that there is a specific protein that increases dramatically soon after injection of E.coli (it shows up as a large spot at the same distance on every gel), and are currently trying to determine what protein that is.
Both Farhana and Currier plan to continue in the sciences at
Hamilton, a goal reinforced by their participation in the STEP program.
For Farhana, the research experience opened her mind to new
possibilities. "Through this I have not only increased interest in
Biology, but might possibly [follow the pre-med track], something I
never would have considered before," she said. Currier plans to major
in neuroscience and be pre-med. "This coming year I hope to create
lasting friendships, and to settle smoothly into college life," he
said. Both students say a valuable part of the pre-freshmen program was
forming close relationships with other students. "I have gained a
greater knowledge of undergraduate science research as well as an
awesome group of friends," said Farhana.
-- by Laura Trubiano '07
