ahennis18-blog

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GWU INTERNSHIP

I worked as a research lab intern at the Milken Institute of Public Health in the Perry Lab during the Summer of my junior year. I worked as a researcher, lab assistant and organized a Men’s Health fair. I was able to organize the lab’s data into a user-friendly format for a questionnaire, which has been used in the ongoing Men’s Health study. The Perry Lab is researching men’s infertility rates and the contributing factors that affect men’s health. This includes researching sperm and conducting semen analyses to determine how sperm counts are affected through lifestyle choices and environmental exposures - both natural and anthropogenic. 

REDcap Training

I took a training course online for the REDcap database system that my internship’s department uses to collect research data, and I am certified in using the software. I also attended a training course in person with my boss and other coworkers.

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Internship: Dark Room

The dark room is used during the “washing” process of the FISH- Fluorescence In-Situ Hybridization. Washing refers to the removal of excess fluorescence solution that activates the probes, which is processed in the dark room to prevent erroneous results. Furthermore, this process is repeated three times to attain the best possible results when analyzing the slides (the slides but not have smudges or other marks in order to achieve the best image possible).

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Internship: Imaging Explanation

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Internship: Imaging Analysis

The images above represent various stages in analyzing the sperm probes during the Fluorescent In-Situ Hybridization (FISH) technique. Probes are placed on the X,Y, nucleus and chromosome 18 (chromosome 18 is used as a control), in order to analyze the sperm cells. An analyzing software known as LAS is used to interpret and compare the data. Through a series of approximately 420 images collected per slide, one is able to improve the image quality and determine sperm irregularities, which may occur.

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Physics Olympics

In my junior year i did the Physics Olympics at Liberty High School.

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STEM Classes

Freshman Year STEM Class #1: Physics Sophomore Year STEM Class #2: Honors Chemistry Freshman Year STEM Class #3: Geometry Sophomore Year STEM Class #4: Honors Algebra II with Precalculus Junior Year STEM Class #5: AP Computer Science Junior Year STEM Class #6: Biology Junior Year STEM Class #7: Honors Precalculus with Differential Calculus Senior Year STEM Class #8: AP Calculus AB

Senior Year AP or Honors STEM Course #1*: AP Environmental Science Senior Year AP or Honors STEM Course #2*: AP Calculus AB

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Activities:

I completed the Summer Environmental Science Course during the summer of my sophomore year. I enjoyed this course as i was able to do hands-on research in the field. I also learned about how salamanders are prone to disease as they absorb most of their nutrients through their skin which makes the highly susceptible to fatal viruses. The pictures above demonstrate activities such as banding ospreys- which allows researchers to track the population size and migration patterns of the ospreys. 

The picture above is from turtle tracking, in which the researchers were updating and checking the tracking devices to ensure that their data were accurate. 

I also attended STEM meeting throughout my 3rd and 4th academic year:

3rd Academic Year: H4

4th Academic Year: Various free periods/breaks.

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Academic Lectures

Event #1: Global Issues Workshops: Public Health

I attended a public health workshop instructed by Mr. Douglas Evans from the Milken Insitute School of Public Health, George Washington University.

Event #2: Dissertation Defense: Theodore Turesky

I attended Mr. Turesky's Dissertation Defense entitled "Functional Neuroimaging Studies of Simple Finger Movements in Healthy Development and Aging and in Children with Dyslexia". Turesky found that in childhood right handed children perform better than left handed children in finger movement tests. He also found that children with dyslexia have a greater reaction time in finger movement tests due to the irregularity in the signal of the test. There is also a correspondence between a child's inability to perform as well as young adults in finger movement tests due to their developing brains, and adulthood being the peak at which the test is most efficiently completed as studies show older adults to lose this skill as their brains degenerate.

Event #3: Plasmonic Nano-Optics: Modeling, Fabrication, and Characterization of plasmonic structures with sub- 10 nm features

Dr. Joseph B Herzog who is apart of the Department of Physics at the University of Arkansas presented on his findings relating to the physics of plasmonic structures.