问题的核心

Maija Adourian ’18 was in high school the first time she witnessed open-heart 手术. And this wasn’t watching from behind some theater glass; she was in the room and close enough to have touched the patient, were that permissible.

“I absolutely loved the environment, loved everything about it,” she says. 很长时间以来 time as a student, she says, she was “tunnel-visioned with gaining all this clinical experience” in her goal to become a medical doctor. But working with Mindy Reynolds, co-chair and associate professor of biology, has broadened her field of vision so that now, she says, she feels like a much more well-rounded candidate for med school.

“She pushed me in both cell biology and biochemistry to really think critically,” Adourian说. “Her tests can be tough, but after making it through those courses with her, you develop as a student and come out of them with a new perspective on problem solving type situations you might experience in the real world … There is almost no better feeling in the world than Dr. Reynolds getting excited about a piece of data you produced or a paragraph that you wrote well. 我可能不会这么做 even sought out any research opportunities in a lab if not for her.”

Adourian, a biology major with emphasis in cell/molecular biology and infectious disease, and a chemistry minor, co-authored with Reynolds a poster that Adourian presented in March at the Society of Toxicology’s (SOT) annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Entitled “Mismatch repair proteins are required for toxic responses following exposure to heavy metals in yeast,” the poster presentation was the result of Adourian’s research with Reynolds—including last summer as a Toll Fellow in the Summer Research Program—and is the basis for her 高级顶点经验 project.

The research focuses on the effects of certain heavy metals—cadmium, cobalt, and nickel—on two types of yeast, which either have properly functioning mismatch repair, a required process to fix DNA damage, or are lacking the necessary proteins. 他们的结果发现 that a particular type of yeast was more resistant to cadmium, a known carcinogen.

“Yeasts have homologous proteins with humans,” Adourian说. “所以当我们看到 the yeast model, one, they are pretty similar as mismatch repair, and two, our findings are helpful because we can use what we learn from the yeasts to see if we get the 在细胞培养中也有同样的结果. It’s important because we want to know more about the exact pathways that metals use to cause cancer in humans… because we’re exposed to them with batteries, cigarettes, contaminated air, water, soil.”

Having completed and presented her poster at the SOT conference, Adourian is now working on the written aspect of her SCE, which will be researched and composed much like a paper that would be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.

Adourian has wanted to be a doctor since she was a youngster. 她母亲是个好心肠的人 anesthesiologist, “so from a young age I have been exposed to that idea.“同样 influential has been her younger sister, who at only two years old underwent open-heart 手术. After graduation in May, Adourian plans to take a gap year and work as a medical scribe, while taking her MCATs this summer and applying to medical schools.

A four-year member of the WC women’s swimming team, Adourian is also a peer tutor in biology, and she works in the Office of Academic Skills where she helps with study 大堂及成功讲座. The former president of the WC chapter of HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America), and vice president of Gamma Sigma Epsilon National Chemistry Honor Society, she’s also a member of Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society, Beta Beta Beta National Biology Society and the Cater Society, which, along with a grant from the Louise and Rodney Layton Fund, helped fund her travel to San Antonio 参加SOT会议.

“I have had several talented students in my research lab over the years, and it was a true pleasure to work with Maija,” Reynolds says. “She is a great listener, intellectually curious, and meticulous with her work. I look forward to watching her after she leaves WAC because I have no doubt she is going to do exceptionally well.”