By Kristopher Schmidt, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology & Chemistry, MS in Biomedicine Program
One of the things I love most about being a professor in the Biomedicine program is teaching students about research and the important role it plays in medicine and health.
Discovering something truly new is one of life’s greatest privileges!
I love that our students get to participate in original research projects as a part of their program – we have always prioritized research because it helps our students to develop those invaluable scientific competencies important to their future healthcare goals1. For me, teaching the research class gives me the chance to live a little bit vicariously through our students. I still clearly remember the first time (wow, 20 years ago?) that I was able to pour over all the data I gathered in my first major project in graduate school. The goal of my work was to understand how the brains of kids in southeast Africa (Malawi) were impacted by the malaria parasite. We catalogued forms of brain and retinal damage in those kids that no one in history had observed previously2. The malaria parasite has been around for millions of years, and the opportunity to add to the human story in a small way was an important personal victory.
It’s fun to watch my MS Biomedicine students pursue their own paths and gain confidence in their ability to do novel research! Students are both nervous and excited about taking on their thesis projects. Everything worthwhile is that way. Some comments from early student reflections sum it up nicely:
“I’m more nervous about this course than any of my other classes. I’ve never taken a project from start to finish on my own!”
“I have so many interests, I don’t know where to start.”
“I’m excited to do something clinical!”
We are halfway into the class now and we are gaining momentum – we’ve picked our projects and we’re thinking about all the variables and sampling methods and controls we need to keep track of. The statistics can be a bit of a bear, but we know that we are developing a sound selection of tools we can use to get the job done. Students are thinking about the advisors they might choose. Faculty from across the university, in math, biology, chemistry, nursing, psychology and more, have partnered with students in the past. Our students will work on these questions this summer and next fall. While they are developing their questions independently, having the support they need is essential to finishing strong! I’ve been so impressed with our students and how they’ve moved from nervous excitement towards realistic plans to develop new knowledge. We are not there yet, but we are certainly well on our way!
Here is a short list of just a few of the project we are planning:
- Examining land surface temperature (LST) and urban-heat-islands on incidences of COVID-19.
- Patient satisfaction among African Americans visiting the emergency room: A comparison of two sites.
- Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism to study the impact of autism-spectrum-disorder (ASD) homologous genes in innate immunity.
- Using graphic novels and visual narratives in public health education.
Wish us luck! Kris
1“The Core Competencies of Entering Medical Students” (AAMC). https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/core-competencies/
2Dorovini-Zis K, Schmidt K, Huynh H, Fu W, Whitten RO, Milner D, Kamiza S, Molyneux M, Taylor TE. The neuropathology of fatal cerebral malaria in malawian children. Am J Pathol. 2011 May;178(5):2146-58. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2011.01.016. PMID: 21514429; PMCID: PMC3081150.