Hi Everyone! I’m Lara Roach, a rising senior majoring in
Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental biology. This summer I am conducting research
at Stanford University through the Stanford Summer Research Program, working
with Dr. Michele Calos. The Calos lab studies cell and gene therapies for
muscular dystrophy. Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that affects 1 in
3,500 boys and causes muscular degeneration. There is currently no cure for
this fatal disease, and the Calos Lab is working on creating cellular and
genetic therapeutics. My project this summer will be to assess the efficiency
of the developed treatments involving muscle stem cells. I will do this through
a variety of testing including immunofluorescence staining, luciferase assays,
eccentric contraction evaluation, and treadmill testing.
Outside of the lab, I have gotten
to know the other undergraduates in my program’s cohort. We had a barbeque,
visited a sculpture garden on campus, explored downtown Palo Alto, and competed
in a scavenger hunt in San Francisco (my team, of course, won!). I am looking
forward to getting to know everyone better and delving deeper into my research
project!
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The Hoover Tower on the Stanford
campus
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I learned how to use the cryostat
to section muscle for immunohistochemistry
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2 comments:
Lara! We should collaborate ;) Sounds like you're having a good time. Stanford and that area in general is very beautiful. Are you close to lab or do you have to voyage across that massive campus?
Abel, I had so much background on my project when I arrived from hearing about your muscular dystrophy research at UCLA! We should definitely get together to discuss this field soon :) I do work across campus from where I am staying, but fortunately the program rented us all bikes! We have been able to explore all of campus and Palo Alto this way. It has been quite a workout! Hope all is well in Boston!
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