Summer Research Programs for UW Medical Students

The UW Cardiovascular Research Center Summer Research Opportunities Program places UW medical students between years I and II into cardiovascular sciences laboratory settings. This program offers a stipend for a minimum 8 weeks to a maximum of 12 weeks for medical student interns. Jonathan Makielski, MD, Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine) and Director of the UW Cardiovascular Research Center Training Program, coordinates this activity. Medical students apply through the Herman Shapiro Research Program (see UW School of Medicine and Public Health web site http://www.med.wisc.edu/education/md/student_research/).

The program is designed to provide students with an appreciation for the nature of scientific research and develop skills in data collection, analysis, and presentation of results to the medical community. Typically, research projects are more advanced than those undertaken by medical students in their undergraduate years. Proposed projects have a central hypothesis or research goal, with experiments that are designed to test the hypothesis through the collection of quantifiable data.

Students in this program have an opportunity to submit abstracts for poster or oral presentations at the UW Medical School Fall Research Day, as well as the UW Cardiovascular Research Center’s annual Scientific Poster Fair held in December.

2009 Summer Research Projects

During the summer of 2009, the UW Cardiovascular Research Center is sponsoring eleven medical students in cardiovascular research laboratories:

• Kerstin Austin, collaborating with Richard L. Moss, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Physiology and Director, UW Cardiovascular Research Center, on “The Myofibrillar Proteome in Human HCM Myocardium.”

• Dhaval Desai, collaborating with Amish Raval, MD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine, on “Coronary CT Angiography to Assist With Percutaneous Coronary Artery Chronic Total Occulusion Recanalization.”

• Jason Habeck, collaborating with Pamela Kling, MD, Associate Professor, Pediatrics, on “Investigating Iron Transport in Uterine Restriction Model.”

• Adrián Löffler, collaborating with Nancy K. Sweitzer, Assistant Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine, on “Genetic Markers of Renal Dysfunction in Patients with Health Failure.”

• Bianca Manuelli, collaborating with Ronald R. Magness, Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, on “The Effect of Shear Stress on the Temporal and Spatial Re-Partitioning of eNOS in Endothelial Cells: A Model for Understanding Nitric Oxide Production Through Post Translational Modifications.”

• Garrett Mortensen, collaborating with William Shrage, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Kinesiology, on “Aging and the Red Blood Cell: Linking Endothelial and Exercise Dysfunction.”

• Michael Oldenburg, collaborating with Héctor H. Valdivia, MD, Ph.D., Professor, Physiology, on “Mechanisms of Ca2+ Triggered Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias.”

• Enrique Pena, collaborating with J. Carter Ralphe, MD, Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, on “Energetic Adaptation in the MYBPC3-null Mouse.”

• Sheila Roy, collaborating with Pamela Kling, MD, Associate Professor, Pediatrics, on “Investigating the Effect of Obesity, Post-Partum Hemorrhage, and Timing of Cord Clamping on Iron Status of Newborns.”

• Brent White, collaborating with Gary E. Lyons, Ph.D., Professor, Anatomy, on “Isolation of Multipotent Cardiac Precursor Cells from Mouse Embryonic Stem (mES) cells.”

• Alex Witek, collaborating with Timothy Hacker, Ph.D., Associate Scientist, Cardiovascular Medicine, on “The Use of MAPK Inhibitors on a Mouse Model of Dilated Cardiomyopathy.”

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