Summer Undergraduate Program in Eye Research: 15th Annual Symposium. July 31, 2015

The Summer Undergraduate Program in Eye Research: 15th Annual Symposium is coming up on July 31, 2015. Another seven OU undergraduate bioscience students will be presenting talks on their summer research experiences here in the Eye Research Institute of Oakland University. While this is year 15 for the formal SUPER program, OU and other Michigan college and high school students have been training in the ERI ever since our institute was founded by Dr Kinsey over 40 years ago. SUPER program alumni achieve an extremely high participation rate in entering professional and graduate schools.

Recent SUPER students from past years continue to move along in their training and careers in graduate school, medical school, dental school and optometry school. For example, SUPER alum Mary Cha (US Army active reserve) has served as a medic in Afganistan and is starting medical school at MSU this fall. Trung Tran has obtained a Masters degree in public health from Washington University and is starting medical school at Wayne State this fall.

SUPER scholars work on real research projects in ERI laboratories and most will obtain co-authorships at some point on research publications from our labs. Scholars have applied for the program in the past winter term, maintain a minimum GPA, write an application essay, and go through interview with ERI faculty. The seven SUPER students this summer also had a $3,500 paid scholarship for the 12 week program. Students also received a basic science or clinical ophthalmology lecture from ERI and Beaumont Ophthalmology faculty each week.

We thank all those who support the program with funding, including the ERI itself, OU’s Provost Office (Dr Lentini), OU’s Center for Biomedical Research (Dr Brad Roth), the Vision Research ROPARD Foundation and Richard Skipper, President and CEO of SKIHI Enterprises in Fort Worth, Texas. Together we are all training future leaders, scientists, engineers and medical professionals.

IThis year’s program in, 302 Pawley Hall:

9:15 a.m. – Welcome and Introduction
Dr. Frank J. Giblin, Director ERI

9:30 a.m. – Caroline Cencer (Dr. Giblin)
UVB induced cataractogenesis: the story of DNA repair in the human lens

9:45 a.m. – Jonathan Cheon (Dr. Giblin)
Understanding cataracts: a biochemical exploration of crystallin protein aggregation in the lens

10:00 a.m. – Natalie Wardia (Dr. Drenser)
Maintaining and restoring adherens and tight junction connections between retinal vascular endothelial cells

10:15 a.m. – Nicole Roussey (Dr. Goldberg)
Does Peripherin-2/rds (P/rds) shape membranes using disulfide bonds?

10:30 a.m. – Quentin Thompkins (Dr.Mitton)
Mechanisms of retina stress: the effects of exercise in type-1 diabetic rats

10:45 a.m. – Naveena Daram (Dr. Chintala)
Tissue and urokinase plasminogen activators instigate the Degeneration of Retinal Ganglion Cells in a Mouse Model of Glaucoma

11:00 a.m. – Joshua Hohlbein (Dr. Zhang)
Cholinergic Amacrine Cell Survival Contrasts the Loss of AII Amacrine Cells in a Mouse Model of Oxygen-induced Retinopathy

11:15 a.m. – Presentation of Certificates
Dr. Kenneth P. Mitton, S.U.P.E.R. Coordinator

Lunch at Noon, 316 Pawley Hall

1 p.m. Guests’ tour of the ERI (Dodge Hall)

Student Photos with Mentors (403 DHE)

(KPM)

(also posted in Dr Mitton's professional blog at 

https://kenmitton.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/summer-undergraduate-program-in-eye-research-15th-annual-symposium-july-31-2015/ )