This past summer, seniors Keyanna Daniels, Mia Grayson, and Salvador Leon participated in the LA-HIP program, an eight-week biomedical research internship at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles. The program was created to expose students to the medical field by placing them in a laboratory setting. In order to gain admission, students had to turn in an application and participate in an interview. Fourteen students were then picked from a competitive field of applicants. “I think I was really positive in my interview. They saw how positive and upbeat I was, and in my résumé, they saw a confident and ambitious girl who won’t stop until she gets what she wants,” said Daniels. After gaining admission into the program, the three students were matched with medical professionals based upon their initial interests. They took a two-week introductory course designed to prepare them for laboratory work. Afterwards, participants conducted research with their mentors over a five-week period. Grayson chose to work with brain tumors, testing several inhibitor cells for their effect on the cancerous growth. She discovered that certain drugs changed the morphology, or physical composition, of the tumors, thereby indicating a slower rate of growth. “My grandmother died of a brain tumor, so I feel I have a personal connection to that. So, when they asked me what I wanted to research, brain tumors were a significant thing,” said Grayson. Leon had an interest in HIV and the micro biome, which is the collection of bacteria found in a human body. He sought to find the best way to extract DNA from these bacterial cells. “I wanted to see if the micro biome could be passed down from mother to child. When you have HIV, your micro biome is altered, which means that you may have more or less of certain bacteria species,” said Leon. An interest in neonatal research prompted Daniels to explore the invasive effects of E. coli K1 on neonatal meningitis. She used the protein OmpA in order to reveal the bacteria’s effects on babies. The three students concluded their internships by giving presentations on their chosen topics at a science symposium. Ultimately, they felt that the program helped solidify their future pursuits in the medical field. “It showed me that I don’t want to work in a lab. I do want to go into medicine, however, I want to go into the clinical side instead of the laboratory side,” said Grayson. Overall, the experience was quite positive for the trio, considering that most had hitherto little to no experience with laboratory and work and medicine. “It was really cool to see most of the things up close, since one thing they try to do is give students experience in the area. It wouldn’t be uncommon for me to see what my other friends were doing that were unrelated to mine. It was really interesting,” said Leon.
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