Academic Scholars Conduct Biomedical Research at Harrington Discovery Institute

Beaumont’s Academic Scholars sent its fourth cohort of students to the Harrington Discovery Institute (HDI) as interns this summer. Beaumont students are the only students offered this outstanding opportunity to work at the HDI. This program was introduced to Academic Scholars Director Gretchen Santo by Natalie Haynes, former Program Director at HDI and parent of Parker ’20.

Beaumont students are the only high school students offered the summer internship opportunities at Harrington Discovery Institute.

For eight weeks during the summer our students work with mentors on research led by Dr. James Reynolds and team leaders from HDI/University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve conducting hands-on research in the lab. The summer program pairs each student with team leaders at HDI to assist with their research projects to advance medicine, and is overseen by Edwin Pacheco Colón, MS, MBA, Research Assistant 4 / Lab Manager for James D. Reynolds, PhD, Institute of Transformative Molecular Medicine (ITMM) Clinical Researcher, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center/Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Beaumont cohort start their summer internship at Harrington Discovery Institute.

Each day our students conduct research, run labs, and document their findings. At the end of the summer, the students present their findings to Dr. Reynolds, team leaders, and the Harrington family for which the institute is named.

While the real-world experience in the lab-confirmed for most of the students their own interest in pursuing careers in the medical field, they also learned valuable life skills that go beyond the lab.

Amanda Desamito ’20 summarized one of those lessons best. “In the beginning, I was unsure of my actions and I made mistakes along the way, but my mentor and peers assured me that making mistakes is part of the research process. In research, you don’t always get your desired results, so it is completely acceptable to make a mistake, start over, and reconfigure. This lesson impacted me because it can apply to my everyday life. As humans, we are not perfect and, of course, not everything will go exactly as we want it to. It’s perfectly okay to make mistakes throughout life. Mistakes will make you think. They might redirect you to a different path, maybe even lead you to something better than what you originally wanted. Without making mistakes, we would never learn.”

Harrington Discovery Institute interns: Hayley Muhvic '20, Amanda Desamito '20, Grace Elhindi '20, Anna Farrington '20.

BEAUMONT STUDENTS AND THEIR RESEARCH TOPICS AND MENTORS:

Grace Elhindi '20 in the lab.

The students worked on projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, the Eppley Foundation for Research (New York City), and The Eversight Center for Eye and Vision Research. The students will present posters of their research at the Case Research Showcase in Spring 2020.

AMANDA DESAMITO ’20 “S-Nitrosylation, Brain Death, and Tissue Oxygenation” (Dr. Lin Zhu)

❯ Additional accomplishments: Academic Scholars, National Honors Society, First Honors, Tennis

GRACE ELHINDI ’20 “Characterization of Nitric Oxide Synthase Expression and Endothelial Cell Density During Storage of Human Corneal Tissue” (Jade Wang and Araam Abboud)

❯ Additional accomplishments: National Honor Society, Melvin Scholar, Published in Ohio Academy of Science Journal

ANNA FARRINGTON ’20 “Testing for Markers of Hypoxia in Brain Dead Patients” (Doo Hee Kim)

❯ Additional accomplishments: Academic Scholars, National Honor Society, Academic Challenge team captain, Robotics team member, Crew, Cross Country

HAYLEY MUHVIC ’20 “S-Nitrosylation of HbA1c” (Edwin Pacheco Colon)

❯ Additional accomplishments: Academic Scholars, National Honor Society, Robotics team member, Cross Country, Track & Field