Week of July 22nd

On Monday, the SURF participants talked with Dr. Kendra Staggs, who is a Postdoctoral Scholar in Dept. Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences.  Dr. Staggs told us about her career journey, her research on sleep, cognition and aging, her fellowship in technology transfer and her internship as a data manager for startups at the University of Kentucky.  The SURES participants talked with Dr. Gang Chen who is an Associate Professor the Dept. Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences.  Dr. Chen  told us about his career journey and his research on ethanol neurotoxicity and carcinogenesis induced by arsenic and chromium.

For our Thursday activity, we first joined Dr. Pete Mirabito and the Kentucky Biomedical Research Infrastructure Students (KBRIN) and watched the documentary called The Human Element.  We then discussed the implications of this movie and some of the lessons learned about communicating human health issues associated with climate change.  Dr. Mirabito shared a podcast that was also very informative (Listen to Facts Aren't Enough from Hidden Brain in Podcasts).

After all of that serious stuff-we then turned on the creative side of our brains by tie-dying our labcoats and painting our science projects. 

Week of July 15

This week, the SURF student talked to with Dr. John Littleton (MD/PhD) who is the founder of Naprogenix.  Check out his web site to learn more the approaches he uses to identify new medicine from natural products.  The SURES students chatted with  Dr.Brett Spear who studies liver gene expression and is also the Director of Graduate Studies for the Integrated Biomedical Science program for the College of Medicine.    Check out his web site to learn more http://microbiology.med.uky.edu/users/bspear#profileTab3

For our Thursday activity, we learned about entomology, by taking a tour of several entomology laboratories in the College of Agriculture, Food and the Environment.  Laura Rosenwald was our tour guide (https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/person/laura-rosenwald).  After the tour, we met with Dr. Carmen Agouridis who will tell us about environmental engineering, water resources and climate change.  You can read more about Dr. Agouridis here.   She also has a  very interesting podcast--https://kyh2o.podbean.com/. 

Since climate change is predicted to bring about an increase in vector and water-borne diseases as described in the attached report-this type of knowledge will be invaluable for us as we start to envision solutions.

Our training with COMPASS

On July 11, we joined the UK CARES and other scientists at the University of Kentucky to work on our communication skills with our COMPASS workshop facilitator, Heather Maddix.  We learned how to create a message box and give 3 min elevator speeches by practices and providing each other with constructive feedback. 

Discussions this week with the SURF participants involved learning about detecting substances like cannabinoids in serum and urine from Erin Crum.  The SURES participants learned about graduate school and the study of kidney physiology from the Dean of the Graduate School, Brian Jackson.

Hiking the Red River Gorge

Our hike was wet-but gave us a new appreciating of "Forest Bathing".  Great conversations, expansive views and of course at the end of the hike...terrific pizza was enjoyed.

Improvising while being a scientist

 The highlight of our week was our Thursday afternoon activity that was facilitated by Dr. Marianne Phelps 

who is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Theatre Department (https://finearts.uky.edu/theatre-

dance/faculty-staff/marianne-phelps).  This workshop was inspired by a book written by the actor, Alan Alda 

(“If I Understood You Would I Have This Look On My Face?”).  We worked on  a variety of  how to use theatre 

improvisation techniques and discussed how they would be useful for improving our ability to communicate 

with others.

On Monday, the SURF participants met with Dr. Harry LeVine, Associate Professor, Dept of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.  Dr. LeVine has a very interesting career journey and works on approaches for improving diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.  You may learn more about Dr. LeVine here.

On Tuesday, the SURES participants met with Dr. Kevin Pearson, Associate Professor, Dept. Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences.  Dr. Pearson is very interested in understanding how maternal exposures to environmental contaminants may impact the health of their offspring and whether  maternal exercise can be an effective intervention.  More information about his work is here.

The Marathon Begins!

       On your mark, get set, pipet! Students participating in the 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience in Environmental Health Sciences (SURES) Program have been in their respective labs for about a little over a week to date. Jeez! Time is flying! To commemorate the students for embarking on their summer-long marathon to research independence and environmental health awareness, the University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research sponsored an undergraduate research kick-off. SURES students had plenty of fun and won a bunch of prizes! During the discussions at the lunch hour, SURES students and near-peer mentors were overheard discussing strategies to efficiently and successfully complete the ‘marathon’. The seasoned vets (near-peer mentors) lead discussions on self-care, summer fun in Lexington, lab etiquette, and scientific confidence amongst a host of other things. Support, encouragement, and engagement filled the air as chatter buzzed.  At the completion of the event, students appeared super-charged! Stay tuned for more updates as the marathon continues!

Post by Brittany Rice, M.S.

Nutritional Sciences Ph.D. Candidate

SURES Near Peer Mentor

Now accepting applications for Summer 2019

STEPS participants hiking the Red River Gorge

Our applications site is now available for our Summer 2019 program-https://pharmns.med.uky.edu/pharmns-summer-research-fellowships-internships

Overview

Our summer undergraduate research pro-grams are designed to provide 17 highly motivated students with research experience and to help them develop their ca-reer plans. The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program emphasizes different areas of pharmacology. The Summer Undergraduate Research in Environmental Sciences (SURES) focuses on environmental health sciences.

The 10-week programs run from May 28th until August 2nd. Students receive a stipend and must be available for the entire 10-week period. After participating in an orientation session, students will then engage in hands-on research in a faculty member's laboratory. SURF and SURES participants will meet for weekly discussions on research, other topics of interest and career development. In addition, students will participate in weekly field trips. The programs will culminate in a poster session.  More information is available here.



Who Should Apply?

Undergraduate students who are rising juniors or above and are currently enrolled at a university in the United States are eligible to apply. Student participants will be selected based on their academic standing, career interests and faculty recommendations. Eligible students should be in good academic standing with a minimum GPA of 3.0. Prior research experience is preferred. Successful applicants will have demonstrated a commitment to research and interest in biomedical careers.