Nicholas Davis

Program: Vanderbilt Anesthesiology Research Program

Location: Nashville, TN

Project Description: 

My project with VUMC Anesthesiology was on "Irg1 and Itaconate Enhance Microbial Killing in Innate Immune Memory Via the Phagolysosome". The toll-like receptor 4 ligand, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA), enhances innate immunocyte responses to subsequent infection, a phenomenon termed innate immune memory. MPLA potently induces expression of immunoresponsive gene 1 (Irg1) in macrophages, producing itaconate, an antimicrobial metabolite. Itaconate is transported to bacteria-containing vacuoles via Rab32/Bloc3. The role of Irg1/itaconate in MPLA-induced macrophage memory is unknown. 

https://www.vumc.org/anesthesiology/blog-posts/vanderbilt-anesthesiology-summer-research-intern-reflects-time-vumc

Tanzila Ahsan

Program: Moffitt Cancer Center

Location: Tampa, FL

Project Description:

My research project was centered on the investigation of markers of lymphoma. Lymphoma is considered to be a "silent killer" as there aren't many definitive markers that signifies disease state. Recent discoveries of IL-37's anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory properties made it a topic of interest in various fields of cancer. Multiple myeloma was shown to have lower levels of IL-37. Consequently, since lymphoma is also a blood cancer, we were investigating to see if there were any anomalies in the levels of IL-37 in lymphoma patients that were significant enough to serve as a protentional biomarker for the disease. 

Program: NIDDK Medical Student Summer Research Program

Location: UAB-Birmingham, Alabama

Project Description:

For my summer research project, I worked in a pediatric endocrinology office at Children of Alabama. The physician I worked with ran a clinic specifically for high-risk kids with type 1 diabetes. For my project, we looked at the use of hybrid closed-loop insulin pumps within this population, specifically comparing their HbA1cs, rates of hospitalization, and data from continuous glucose monitors before and after starting this therapy.

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