Another entrepreneur drops out to pursue her new app where you write what kind of food you're in the mood for and it matches you with other people on campus who also want to eat that food (ok I'd probably download that) and makes it on the front page of the DP. I think we're all a little sick of celebrating these accomplishments, so for our yearbook issue we focused on some smartie pants seniors working to make the world a better, and healthier, place to live. Long hours in the lab or volunteering should be just as news-worthy, and today we make it so.
Dan Kraft
Dan works in Saar Gill’s lab under Carl June on chimeric antigen receptor T cells, or CART. If you’re like me and thought a chimera was something from Harry Potter, here’s some info: “So we have many different types of immune cells, and some of these have the ability to kill other cells, usually bacteria. They can't tell the difference between a tumor cell and a normal cell in our body, so we take these immune cells out of the patient, infect the cells with a virus that allows them to produce a protein that recognizes the tumor, and reintroduce them back into the patient. Then, using this new 'chimeric' protein, they are able to recognize the cancerous cells as 'non-self,' and they kill the cancer. I love going to clinic with my PI who's an MD/PhD hematologist/oncologist and seeing patients receive similar therapies (some of which originated in our lab) that have a visible impact. Most of the patients I see with him don't get CART, but it's been great to see his commitment to each patient’s journey.”
Perry Goffner
While many Health and Societies majors get sucked into the dark realm of consulting, Perry’s actually tryna make a change in this world: “I’m interested in the intersection of healthcare with ethics, law and policy. This past summer, I worked for the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues—an advisory panel of the nation’s leaders in medicine, science, ethics, religion, law and engineering (Ed. Note: Amy Gutmann runs this!). During my internship, I conducted research for upcoming reports, helped prepare morning press briefings, and worked on a project to analyze the impact of international bioethics institutions. As a student–researcher I have worked in the Pediatric ICU at CHOP and now conduct independent research in which I try to figure out if doctors at the turn of the twentieth century had the kind of political influence that Ben Carson seems to have.”
Jane Dobkin
On top of being in two dance groups and babysitting, Jane loves to j chill in Abramson Research Center and do some hella relevant research: "I work with several other undergraduates in Seema Bhatnagar's Neurobiology of Stress lab at the Abramson Research Center. Dr. Bhatnagar's work focuses on how individuals adapt to chronic psychological and/or physical stress. Healthy individuals will show decreases in physiological stress responses to the same stimuli over time as they habituate to the stressor, but disruptions in this habituation process have been implicated in a lot of anxiety and affect disorders including PTSD, chronic anxiety and depression. The goal is to learn more about the pathways implicated in the stress response in order to develop more effective treatments for its dysfunction. I was interested in working in this lab because the subject matter felt really applicable. Anyone on this campus can recognize the prevalence of an unhealthy level of stress and I think it's important to understand the impact that can have. Being the busiest person you know or the most stressed out person you know shouldn't be the badge of honor it's started to become, especially when we know, from work like Dr. Bhatnagar's, that it's having a negative impact on our mental and physical health"
Devon Hitt
Devon spent her summers working in the division of neuropathology at Johns Hopkins, which turns out to be more relevant to your Sunday afternoons than you’d think: “It’s essentially a division that researches diseases that affect your brain (think Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s). In the most general sense, I worked on a research study that tried to figure out why only some people develop a certain kind of brain disorders after experiencing multiple concussions. Our findings showed that certain genes make people (but actually mice because those were our test subjects) predisposed to these disorders. I found the research really interesting but also particularly relevant given the player lawsuit being filed against the NFL for withholding information about the danger of concussions. Aside from this research, I volunteered with Penn Science Across the Ages (PSAA) and became chair of the community school. Working at Lea is really fun, the kids are awesome and it’s always nice to get out of the Penn bubble for an hour or two a week.”
Ariel Shaulson
This girl's in chemical engineering and Wharton and still manages to find time to save the world. But yes Netflix we do want to continue watching thank you. "I never thought I would be traveling to Guatemala during the summer to build latrines, but Penn Engineers Without Borders let me do just that. We travel to developing communities to implement sustainable engineering projects such as water systems and latrines and help teach sanitation to these communities. On campus we go to local schools and teach science, and develop our own engineering designs. The club has given back to communities around the world and is an amazing hands-on experience for anyone interested in sustainable development."
Tara Lorimer
Tara's in the Garcia lab at Penn Med, part of the trendy up–and–coming field of epigenetics. That's the study of changes in gene expression NOT due to DNA (think of identical twins that have things different about them) : “Basically, it turns out that the central dogma of biology (DNA → RNA → protein) is a bit of an oversimplification – protein expression is actually affected and modified by external factors, not just your genome. Better understanding these epigenetic modifications has important implications for the development of drug targets in cancers and viral infections, and also gives an insight into the whole nature versus nurture debate of why the body does what it does. Most of the work in the lab focuses on quantifying the rate and number of these modifications, so right now I’m working on quantifying the rate of acetylation on non-histone proteins (Ed. Note: don’t worry I took biochem and barely understood that).”
Chris Gajewski
Along with lab-bench research like every other pre-med, Chris is also out there inspiring kids to find their passion for medicine: "The Cardiology Pipeline is a program that has enabled me to learn about cardiology from current Penn Med students and then work as a teacher to educate local high school juniors. It has been a great way for me to "make a difference / be a leader / other resumé buzzwords" in a local West Philadelphia high school. As someone who also plans to go to medical school next year, getting to know current first-year medical students has allowed me to get a glimpse of life after graduation."
