Diabetes, enzymes and fatty livers: Type II diabetes research

Confidence building through science: A glimpse into SRAP research life
The Student Research Apprenticeship Program (SRAP) is a paid summer research program at the University of Wyoming for high school students in tenth through twelfth grade. It is sponsored by Wyoming EPSCoR and funded by the National Science Foundation. This is the fifth of eleven stories about the laboratories where this year’s SRAP students are working.

Kaycee Perez works with Cathepsin K in Dr. Nair's lab.

Diabetes affects almost 26 million people in the United States today. The number of adults with diagnosed diabetes continues to increase, especially as obesity rates increase. While the relationship between diabetes and obesity is well documented, the mechanisms behind the relationship are still being investigated. This summer, Kaycee Perez and Alexzandria Steiner, with their mentors Yinan Hua and Evgeniy Panzhinskiy, graduate students in the lab of Dr. Sreejayan Nair, are working on understanding the role of two enzymes in the relationship between obesity and type II diabetes.

Alexzandria’s work is focused on an enzyme called protein-tryosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) while Kaycee’s research is centered on another enzyme called Cathepsin K.

PTP1B is an enzyme that prevents the actions of insulin in the body. It is part of the development of insulin resistance and obesity. Insulin resistance is when the body does not react to the effects of a normal amount of insulin, so it creates more insulin in order to have the same effect. Cathepsin K is an important part of fat formation in the body. Both projects are looking at how the enzymes impact fatty liver formation in a high-fat diet. Fatty liver is the accumulation of fat in the liver, most often due to insulin resistance.

Alexzandria Steiner works with PTP1B in Dr. Nair's lab.

In order to understand the role these two enzymes play, Kaycee and Alexzandria are using mice treated with a high-fat diet. These mice have been genetically engineered so that they are missing PTP1B in Alexzandria’s project and Cathepsin K in Kaycee’s project.

In the short amount of time Alexzandria and Kaycee have been working in Dr. Nair’s lab, they have come to two conclusions about the enzymes. Alexzandria found that mice without PTP1B do not develop fatty liver formation, despite being on a high-fat diet. Kaycee, on the other hand, found out that even without Cathepsin K, the mice developed fatty-liver formation. Her findings however, indicate that while fatty-liver was formed, the absence of Cathepsin K increased insulin signaling, meaning that insulin resistance decreased.

Dr. Nair is pleased by Kaycee and Alexzandria’s work and their experience in his lab. “The SRAP students get an overview of the process of scientific research and hands-on training on a variety of techniques,” he says.

Kaycee Perez and Alexzandria Steiner in Dr. Nair's lab.

He adds that they bring a valuable experience to his lab. “Oftentimes the SRAP students are trained by graduate students in my lab which provides a good opportunity for the graduate students to assume the role of mentor.”

Alexzandria and Kaycee’s findings are important contributions to studies about diabetes and obesity. They may help identify future treatments and controls for diabetes, as well as raise more questions about the molecular mechanics behind diabetes development.






By Kali S. McCrackin

Photos by Beth Cable

Coprolites, pre-modern rodents and environmental change

Confidence building through science: A glimpse into SRAP research life

The Student Research Apprenticeship Program (SRAP) is a paid summer research program at the University of Wyoming for high school students in tenth through twelfth grade. It is sponsored by Wyoming EPSCoR and funded by the National Science Foundation. This is the forth of eleven stories about the laboratories where this year’s SRAP students are working.

Kassidee Brown works on measuring a coprolite in Dr. Mark Clementz lab.

When Kassidee Brown enrolled in SRAP, she probably didn’t expect to be measuring coprolites. If she had known, perhaps she would have hesitated, because coprolites are, in fact, fossilized dung. Kassidee however, did not bat an eye as she sat measuring the small, pebble like fossils three weeks into the program.

Kassidee’s work is part of a collaborative project shared among the anthropology, botany and geology departments at the University of Wyoming. The project aims to understand environmental change from the Last GlacialMaximum during the Pleistocene Epoch to our current conditions.

While measuring the length, width and weight of hundreds of rodent coprolites is tedious, these measurements are an important part of detecting change in the environment because the bigger the coprolite, the bigger the rodent; the bigger the rodent, the cooler the temperatures.

By measuring the coprolites and comparing them to current rodent droppings, the research team aims to better understand the biology of the past rodent population and consequently the environment in which they lived. While Kassidee will spend more time measuring the coprolites, her mentor, Dr.Mark Clementz hopes to take her with the team to Last Canyon Cave in Montana, which dates from 50,000 years ago to modern times.

Dr. Clementz, who found out about SRAP from colleague, has been involved in the program for six years. He sees SRAP as a great way to give back to the community and introduce young students to the field of paleontology.

“It’s nice when you have a student come through and maybe you’re going to change their perspective on school and what career path they take,” he says. “It’s a really positive experience.”

A huge part of that positive experience stems from the attitude SRAP students bring with them to the lab. “The students that come through here are just so excited,” Dr. Clementz says.

For Dr. Clementz, the energy and excitement of the students are his favorite parts of being a mentor. “I like the excitement that comes from working with a student who’s never had an opportunity to work in a lab before and getting them thinking about questions from a scientific perspective,” he says.

While studying fossilized dung may not have been Kassidee’s expectation, she is gaining valuable insight into the scientific process and learning about the collaborative nature of research. This insight is precisely what Dr. Clementz hopes his SRAP students gain. “The SRAP program is a way of giving students who may or may not become scientists an appreciation for science,” he says.  

The program helps to broaden students’ perspectives, and Dr. Clementz adds, “I think it gives them a sense of confidence because now they really start to understand how we go about tackling some of the basic questions and even some of the big picture questions using the techniques we work on in the lab or in the field.”

Kassidee still isn’t sure what her college major will be, but the SRAP program has given her a valuable experience that most, if not all, of her future college classmates will not have had. She’ll be one step ahead understanding in the scientific process and one step closer to becoming a scientist, if that is where her career leads her.

By Kali S. McCrackin

Photo credit: Kali S. McCrackin 

An AH-HA moment:Characterizing mutant cells

Confidence building through science: A glimpse into SRAP research life

The Student Research Apprenticeship Program (SRAP) is a paid summer research program at the University of Wyoming for high school students in tenth through twelfth grade. It is sponsored by Wyoming EPSCoR and funded by the National Science Foundation. This is the third of eleven stories about the laboratories where this year’s SRAP students are working.

Christopher Hoyt works on an epidermal peel.

Christopher Hoyt has come across a rare moment in science, an AH-HA moment that young scientists  rarely experience.  It is the AH HA moment that keeps all scientists thrilled by their work and Christopher is well on his way to discovering the wonders of this moment.

Christopher is part of SRAP. He is working in a molecular biology lab this summer doing research to understand what is wrong with a mutant corn plant. The plant has a single gene mutation that causes the plant to be runty with wrinkled and curled leaves.

At first glance, this mutant plant looks generally sick. But Christopher, and his lab mentor, Dr. Carolyn Rasmussen, working in the lab of Dr. Anne Sylvester, have discovered that the mutant phenotype, as the appearance is called, may be due to just a single cell type that is growing out of control.

Much like cancer is due to mutant cells that grow rampant in humans and other animals, these particular plant cells seem to be growing way too big and in the wrong place in the leaf. “This could be causing all the defects we see,” says Dr. Rasmussen.

“This is an AH HA moment for the entire lab,” says Dr. Anne Sylvester, who is the director of Wyoming EPSCoR, in addition to being the faculty member leading the research. “We have been studying this gene mutation and the protein it encodes for a long time,” she adds, “But we could never understand what the essential defect is: how could a single mutation cause such profound impact?”

Now, once Christopher’s discovery is tested again and again, and the team is sure it is correct, they will have new information about the normal function of this cell type. And best of all, there will be a single gene pinpointed that regulates the process.

Through group discussion and evaluation of the data so far, the team is concluding that this cell type may regulate leaf curling, an important plant response to drought conditions.  The value of this information is far-reaching and could have agricultural impacts.

 “Christopher is right on the cutting edge, learning new information, nothing processed about it,” says Dr. Rasmussen. “The really nice thing is that figuring out this developmental defect has allowed Christopher to really expand on that and to think about new kinds of experiments that we weren’t thinking of before.”

Dr. Rasmussen, a post doctoral researcher with her own research program as well as a collaborator with Dr. Sylvester, is completely impressed with Christopher and their work together.

“If things turn out right, Christopher may have a publication,” Dr. Rasmussen says.

Christopher Hoyt works through a microscope to do epidermal peels

She looks at Christopher as he carefully peels the epidermis, or skin, of the corn leaf for his observations, then adds, “Learning to think critically about a problem helps with any endeavor, and this is one of the great strengths of scientific training. I think this is a really great project for Christopher.”

The project has also been great for Dr. Rasmussen. She has worked with numerous undergraduate students over the years and deeply values the mentoring process. “You only really truly know how to do something or what you are doing when you can explain it to somebody,” she says.

Sylvester points out that Christopher’s discovery came from detailed observation, which she says is the foundation of science. The observation leads to hypotheses that are tested by carefully designed experiments. Christopher has contributed to all these aspects of the scientific process.

“This is what I love about SRAP,” says Dr. Sylvester. “Students come to the lab, usually for the first time, and jump in with full energy and attention. They have fresh new insights and bring creative ideas that can change the way we think. And in turn, we hope these students will get hooked by science and continue on.  We need students like Christopher and other SRAP students in our future.”

 

 By Anne Sylvester and Kali S. McCrackin

Photo credits: Kali S. McCrackin

Bitten by the Bug: Paleoecology and the search for charcoal

 Confidence building through science: A glimpse into SRAP research life

The Student Research Apprenticeship Program (SRAP) is a paid summer research program at the University of Wyoming for high school students in tenth through twelfth grade. It is sponsored by Wyoming EPSCoR and funded by the National Science Foundation. This is the second of eleven stories about the laboratories where this year’s SRAP students are working. 

A charcoal sample Luis Morillon prepared while working in Dr. Minckley's lab.

Three weeks ago, Luis Morillon was introduced to the question that Dr. Tom Minckley has spent his career working to answer: How do climate change and disturbances alter natural vegetation patterns?

Luis soon learned that this is a broad, encompassing question that paleoecologists, like Dr. Minckley, spend lifetimes working on. With this understanding, Luis was introduced to the world of scientific research. Ends are often the means to beginnings and begins often seem to have no end. That’s all part of the thrill for scientists.

While a summer is far too short a time to answer this question completely, it is the perfect amount of time for SRAP students, like Luis, to gain valuable experience in science laboratories, researching, analyzing, writing and presenting conclusions like a real scientist.

“We really want the students to get as much experience and contact with the aspects of science as they can,” Dr. Minckley says.

And students in Dr. Minckley’s lab get both experience and contact with the world of science.  “We’re doing real science,” Dr. Minckley says. “I use the data that students generate.”

Dr. Minckley’s research focuses on how environments have changed from 21,000 years ago to the present. To do this, he relies on two primary sources of information: fossilized pollen and charcoal.

Fossilized pollen is one of the most common terrestrial fossils. If found in lakes, marshes or caves, these fossils help researchers identify the vegetation community surrounding a point. Identifying past vegetation communities is key to understanding how forests have formed over thousands of years.

In addition to identifying past vegetation communities, it is important to understand disturbances in vegetation patterns. This is where charcoal comes in. Researchers, like Luis, can collect and analyze charcoal samples to determine the frequency of fire disturbance. Large amounts of charcoal indicate a fire while small amount indicate a lack of fire.

Over the past few weeks, Luis has been working in one of Dr. Minckley’s labs, processing mud and removing charcoal samples. The data he collects may eventually earn him a publication, as Dr. Minckley likes to include SRAP students’ names on his research papers if the data they generate is substantial to interpretation of the past environments.

While some professors may doubt the abilities of students below the graduate level, Dr. Minckley sees things differently. “If you let the students know you are serious about what they are doing, they come in a lot more motivated,” he says.

Dr. Minckley first became involved with SRAP seven years ago as a post-doctoral researcher. Since then he has continued to mentor and includes graduate students and undergraduate students in the mentoring process. “I’ve found that with the title of professor, we really intimidate SRAP students, so having an age bridge is super helpful,” Dr. Minckley explains. In addition, he says that mentoring and educating are as important as being a scientist. “No body was born knowing the stuff we do.”

When asked about his favorite part of the program, Dr. Minckley said, “When you have a student who gets ‘bitten by the bug’ and you see the lights go on and they see what you’ve been working towards, that’s super exciting.”

As a mentor, Dr. Minckley works to ensure that students have a positive experience in the lab and that they finish their research with a sense of achievement. “I want students to have the tools that will make them succeed in college,” he says. “My goal for SRAP students is that they feel that they succeeded.” This success will carry them on in the rest of their high school careers and into college.

With samples in check and a research paper in progress, Luis is clearly on a path to success.  He will present his research at the end of July and, with a little extra hard work and dedication, he may be a published author before he even graduates from high school.  His research isn’t over yet, but perhaps, like past SRAP students, he too will be bitten by the bug, and become a scientist in the future.


~by Kali S. McCrackin

Photo credit: Kali S. McCrackin

Making new proteins: DNA, bacteria and synthetic biology

Confidence building through science: A glimpse into SRAP research life

The Student Research Apprenticeship Program (SRAP) is a paid summer research program at the University of Wyoming for high school students in tenth through twelfth grade. It is sponsored by Wyoming EPSCoR and funded by the National Science Foundation. This is the first of eleven stories about the laboratories where this year’s SRAP students are working. 

Joshua George works in Dr. Gomelsky's molecular biology lab during SRAP in June.

How do you make something that doesn’t exist?

That is what Joshua George and Mayu Garcia are learning this summer. As part of Dr. Mark Gomelsky’s lab, they are working on making synthetic proteins to regulate the behavior of bacteria such as E. coli and Listeria.

“Basically we take a piece of a gene from one organism and a piece of a gene from another and try to make this synthetic gene that will make a chimeric protein that doesn’t exist in nature,” Dr. Gomelsky explains. “They (Joshua and Mayu) are making one particular synthetic module which we envision will ultimately allow us to regulate pathogenic bacteria.”

This type of protein engineering is used in models of disease to better understand what certain genes of pathogenic bacteria do in their host organisms. 

This sounds complicated, right?

It is, and that is where Dr. Gomelsky sees the greatest value of the SRAP program. “You get somewhat frightened young adults who don’t understand much of what you’re telling them and are scared of everything pretty much,” Dr. Gomelsky says. “And at the end of the program, you have somebody presenting a PowerPoint to their colleagues, convincing them of the importance of their work and describing complicated methods to achieve the experimental goals.”

Helping to empower students is part of what brings Dr. Gomelsky back to the program year after year. He started his work as a mentor ten years ago, in 2002. “I just heard that there was such a program and I thought 'this is a great idea and we should be engaged in it',” he says. “I think this is something that all professors should be doing.”

Because SRAP is for a broad range of high school students, including those who are underrepresented in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields, Dr. Gomelsky believes that programs like it are the key to improving STEM education in the US. Young students have to be exposed to the STEM fields in order to become involved in them, he says.

Dr. Gomelsky’s experience with SRAP has proven that programs like this are life changing and valuable. One of his very first students went on to complete his undergraduate degree at UW, working in the same lab in which he had conducted his SRAP research. Today, this student is a co-author on one of Dr. Gomelsky’s papers and a graduate student at the University of Nebraska. He has gone from being a nervous, high school student to a colleague and a co-author.

“Perhaps more important than building confidence in their research abilities is building confidence in their abilities to succeed in challenging environments,” says Dr. Gomelsky. “They learn that they can succeed.”

Joshua and Mayu were new to protein engineering when they first stepped foot in Dr. Gomelsky’s lab. Half way through the program, they look like naturals in their lab coats and goggles. They have an air of confidence and comfort about them as they work on the tasks at hand.

This is the best part of being a mentor for Dr. Gomelsky. “My favorite part is to see the growth in students’ abilities but more so in their confidence in themselves.”

~by Kali S. McCrackin

Photo credit: Kali S. McCrackin