This week of the immersion experience took a rather unique turn for me and it turned out to have a nice conclusion. My week started with introducing me to the computational side of my mentor's laboratory. As I mentioned in my previous post, Dr. Gauthier is my clinical investigator who specializes in multiple sclerosis (MS). Her research interest involves the pattern of demyelination and lesions in white matter that lead to the neurodegenerative state of MS. Since studying this disease in patients is incredibly difficult on the microscopic scale, the best way to monitor the disease progress is through novel imaging techniques. In particular, my mentor is studying demyelination by adapting the post-processing side of various MRI images to gain insight about patients in a longitudinal study. My role for the summer invokes computational analyses of various brain and spine MRI images. However, when I met with her computational team, it was quickly realized on everyone's part that the project demanded high-level and specific expertise in computational processing and radiology - neither of which I possess. Therefore, through some maneuvering, I am now working in the laboratory of my mentor's director: Dr. Timothy Vartanian. Dr. Vartanian, is conducting a study related to designing a therapeutic vaccine for MS. Since my background is molecular biology/immunology, this certainly fit my background and most definitely my lab interests. In fact, it also ties into my thesis back in Ithaca, so this will be valuable experience from that angle too. I started working in the lab earlier in the week and that has been nice to see clinical investigations from the wet-lab side too. My mini-project should be feasible if everything works well by the end of immersion.
Other than that, this week has been incredibly busy in balancing lab, clinical visits with Dr. Gauthier, lab meetings, grand rounds, and various other seminars. And this is without watching any surgeries! I attended a lab meeting for both Dr. Gauthier and Dr. Vartanian and it's interesting to compare and contrast the kinds of research related to MS. I also went to a departmental MS imaging meeting where I was able to see the most recent data from the MS core faculty. Finally, in the later part of the week, I attended a talk by Dr. Gauthier, called "Bench to Bedside," which was an overview about MS from etiology to diagnosis to prognosis to treatment. It was aimed to inform other neurologists about MS and what can be shared or applied to other CNS disorders. Some clinicians brought up an interesting point in terms of the initiating pattern similarity of MS to dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Also, in the early part of the week, all the BME students attended a bioethics seminar. Since I have never taken an official philosophy course before, it gave me a chance to reflect on a lot of terms and practices (both medical and non-medical).
My week ended on a pretty solid note. I learned how to operate an MRI machine with Amanda and Hannah. We went down to the 55th street office and learned how to set up the machine and take various images of a phantom object. We ended by imaging Amanda's ankle. I have to say it is pretty amazing everything you can see based on the electrical properties of water! The hands-on training of the instrument made my week.
All in all, my second week was even better than the first week. I look forward to seeing what the next one brings.
Other than that, this week has been incredibly busy in balancing lab, clinical visits with Dr. Gauthier, lab meetings, grand rounds, and various other seminars. And this is without watching any surgeries! I attended a lab meeting for both Dr. Gauthier and Dr. Vartanian and it's interesting to compare and contrast the kinds of research related to MS. I also went to a departmental MS imaging meeting where I was able to see the most recent data from the MS core faculty. Finally, in the later part of the week, I attended a talk by Dr. Gauthier, called "Bench to Bedside," which was an overview about MS from etiology to diagnosis to prognosis to treatment. It was aimed to inform other neurologists about MS and what can be shared or applied to other CNS disorders. Some clinicians brought up an interesting point in terms of the initiating pattern similarity of MS to dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Also, in the early part of the week, all the BME students attended a bioethics seminar. Since I have never taken an official philosophy course before, it gave me a chance to reflect on a lot of terms and practices (both medical and non-medical).
My week ended on a pretty solid note. I learned how to operate an MRI machine with Amanda and Hannah. We went down to the 55th street office and learned how to set up the machine and take various images of a phantom object. We ended by imaging Amanda's ankle. I have to say it is pretty amazing everything you can see based on the electrical properties of water! The hands-on training of the instrument made my week.
All in all, my second week was even better than the first week. I look forward to seeing what the next one brings.
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