BSD News
U N D E R G R A D U AT E A N D G R A D U AT E R E S E A R C H
BSD summer programs offer worlds of opportunity BY ANNE STEIN
L “Not only have I learned a lot about experimental skills, but I also learned how to think like a researcher, how to present my
ast summer, the Biological Sciences Division welcomed a small, select group of China’s top life sciences undergraduates to campus to engage in a rigorous nine-week research program. Now in its second year, the International Summer Research program for undergraduates is solidifying academic and research partnerships with China. “It helps prepare the students for graduate school, and gives us an opportunity to showcase our graduate programs, as well as our wonderful campus and city, to the participants,” said Victoria Prince, PhD, dean for graduate education and professor of organismal
thoughts logically and scientifically and how to effectively communicate with other researchers.” Harry Feng Peking University student
Harry Feng, left, and Xintong He outside the Gordon Center for Integrative Science. The two students are among a select group of Chinese undergraduates who spent last summer doing research in BSD laboratories. PHOTO BY NANCY WONG
biology and anatomy. Two students who participated in 2014 are returning to the BSD this fall as graduate students. “The program is a great stepping stone for a research career, which is what most of them will pursue,” said program co-director Ilaria Rebay, PhD, professor in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research and Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology. 28
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION
The 2015 cohort included seven rising seniors from Tsinghua and Peking universities, elite institutions in China’s C9 League, similar to the U.S.’s Ivy League. The students work in labs with faculty members, gather twice weekly for faculty talks and present their research at the end of the program. “We also provide guidance to graduate student programs for them, and we train and expose them to the American way of scientific thinking and training,” said codirector Wei-Jen Tang, PhD, professor in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research. Tsinghua University student Xintong He worked on understanding how cells negotiate the transition from stem cell-like progenitor state to a more specified differentiated state, in context of multicellular, developing tissue. Rebay was her mentor. Weidong (Harry) Feng, a biology major at Peking University, spent the summer working in the lab of Richard Fehon, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology. His research focused on the Hippo signaling pathway that is thought to control growth. “My data strongly suggests that a known protein complex called Chromatin Assembly Factor 1 complex could also regulate the Hippo signaling pathway besides its already known functions,” Feng said. But the Chinese students’ summer wasn’t spent entirely inside labs and classrooms. “I really enjoyed the mild weather in Chicago and the excellent location of UChicago,” said Feng. “The buildings, parks and museums downtown are brilliant, the gym and sports field on campus are great, and I’ve enjoyed jogging to Lake Michigan.” Research experience for undergraduates Students from institutions across the U.S. spent last summer on the University of Chicago campus through Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs in the BSD: the Conte Center for Computational Neuropsychiatric Genomics REU, the National Institute on Drug Abuse Genes and Addiction REU and the REU in Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology. These 10-week programs are funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Daniela DeCristo, a senior and biology major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, investigated associations of specific genetic polymorphisms that may be related to conduct disorder. Guiding her research was Benjamin Lahey, PhD, the Irving B. Harris Professor in the Departments of Public Health Sciences (Epidemiology) and Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience. “I had a lot of freedom to design and implement different methods for my research, and creatively