Undergraduate Students in Division of Math, Science, and Technology Earn Prominent Summer Internships

The Division of Math, Science, and Technology in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences has announced three prestigious summer internships that have been awarded its students.

Myra Rafi and Alexandra D. Timis, both biology majors, have been selected as the inaugural participants for the Summer 2008 Intercampus Undergraduate Student Externship Program, a joint venture between the Indiana University School of Medicine-Northwest (IUSM-Northwest), Nova Southeastern University, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The program promotes self-development, truth, and power via basic science research with clinical and real-life applications. The Division of Math, Science, and Technology would like to recognize Don Rosenblum, Ph.D., dean of the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, for his support of this initiative.

Rafi will be working in the laboratories of Nancy J. Mangini, Ph.D., and Brian G. Kennedy, Ph.D. Her work will focus on age related macular degeneration (AMD) — the leading cause of visual impairment in the United States. The research will test the hypothesis that differences in pigmentation in a particular cell type present in the eye, the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), contributes to racial differences in susceptibility to AMD.

Timis will be working in the laboratory of Tatiana Kostrominova, Ph.D., focusing on the changes of gene and protein expression in skeletal muscle during metabolic syndrome, denervation and aging, and their effect on the decline of muscle functional activity. The research will entail preparing, staining and analyzing muscle sections from control and experimental animals (mice, rats and miniature swine) in order to elucidate the structural changes underlying the functional decline of muscle activity.

Additionally, Carlos Haderspock, a biology major, has been awarded an internship where he will spend the summer in Lutz, Austria, following a transplant team. His research will involve a comparison of a student health center in the U.S., located at NSU, with help from Pablo Calzada, D.O., of NSU’s Health Professions Division, and a student health center in Austria, located at Lutz University, with Philip Steigler, M.D.

Students may earn credit for internships that complement and enhance their academic programs, including internships in science, business, government, and the arts.