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  Program
• Summer Undergraduate Research
  • Description of Program
  • Past Participants
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Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Past Participants

2007 Carolina Fellows

• Justin A. Brewster (Senior at McGill University in Montreal) to graduate in May 2008 with a B.S. in Biochemistry and minor in Pharmacology.  Title of talk:  “Identifying Components Involved in the Graded-to-Binary Switch in the Yeast Pheromone Response Pathway”
• Christine Bruckner (Senior at Grinnell College) to graduate in May 2008 with a B.A. in General Science/Biology.  Title of talk:  “P2Y1 Receptor Desensitization:  An Investigation”
• Stephanie Grecco (Senior at Rhode Island College) to graduate in May 2008 with a B.S. in Chemical Dependency/Addiction Studies and B.A. Psychology.  Title to talk:  “The effect of cytokine production & neuroinflamation by endotoxin following ethanol exposure”  AND “The long-term effects of adolescent ethanol exposure on hippocampal neurogenesis”
• Ben Otopalik (Senior at Carleton College) to graduate in June 2008 with a B.A. in Cognitive Science.  Title of talk:  “What are the effects of the L9’T mutation on conformational changes in nicotinic receptors?”
• Vanessa Richards (Senior at Oberlin College) to graduate in May 2008 with a B.A. in Neuroscience.  Title of talk:  “Influence of Electrostatics on Cysteine Modification in Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors”
• Kate White (Senior at University of Illinois) to graduate in May 2008 with a B.S. in Integrative Biology.  Title of talk:  “Examination of P2Y6 receptor targeting signals in MDCK epithelial cells”
• Martin Whittle (Senior at University of Puget Sound) to graduate in May 2008 with a B.S. in Chemistry.  Title of talk:  “Investigating the Phosphorylation of Cytidine Triphosphate Synthetase 1”

Former Carolina Summer Fellows

• Susan Smyth (1986 summer fellow) is current an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.
• Marilee Shelton (1992 summer fellow) is currently Program Director, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.
• Emily Zhou (2000 summer fellow) entered our program in Fall 2001, and is currently a 5th year graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Harden here in Pharmacology. Title of Talk: “Application of the Yeast Two-Hybrid Screening to Identify Proteins in the E. Coli Cell Synthesizing Complex”
• Donita Brady (2002 summer fellow) is currently in her 4th year as a Ph.D. student in Pharmacology here at UNC-CH working in the laboratory of Dr. Adrienne Cox. Title of Talk: “Role of Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and PGE2 in Ras Mediated Transformation”
• Susan Cogut (2002 summer fellow) is currently a 4th year pharmacy student at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy and will be doing a pharmacy practice residency at the University of Virginia after graduation.
  Title of Talk: "Inhibition of Nucleoside Transport by Protein Kinase C Inhibitors"
• Stephanie Hall Hart (2002 summer fellow) entered our Ph.D. program in Pharmacology for Fall 2004, and is a third year graduate student in the laboratories of Drs. Keith Burridge and Klaus Hahn here in Pharmacology. Title of Talk: “An Investigation of the Interaction between Ras and PLCε”
• Kirk Latibeaudiere (2002 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in graduate school at Georgia Tech. Title of Talk: “Nischarin: The Novel Protein”
• Anna Nelson (2002 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in the MD/Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado Health Science Center working in the laboratory of Dr. Nancy Zahniser. Title of Talk: "Effect of Mineralocortocoid and Glucocorticoid Receptor Blockade on Neural Progenitor Cell Proliferation”
• ChiChi Okafor (2002 summer fellow) is currently a 4th year professional student in the School of Pharmacy at UNC-CH. Title of Talk: “Mechanisms of Sickle RBC Aggregate Formation”
• Alexander Smith (2002 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Microbiology at the University of Illinois. Title of Talk: "Deletion Analysis of Membrane Bound Lytic Transglycosylases in Neisseria Gonorrhoeae”
• Adam Kimple (2003 summer fellow) entered the MD/Ph.D. program here at UNC and is working on his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. David Siderovski in Pharmacology. Title of Talk: “Towards Small Molecule Inhibitors of RGS Proteins”
• Sarah Rogan (2003 summer fellow) entered the MD/Ph.D. program here at UNC-CH and is currently finishing her 2nd year in the program. Title of Talk: “Activation of PLC-epsilon by Rho GTPases”
• Kia Jackson (2003 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in graduate school in the Dept. of Pharmaceutics at Virginia Commonwealth University. Title of Talk: “Regulation of PAR2 Signaling & Traffiking”
• Brett Rollins (2003 summer fellow) is currently working as a Research Technician at the UNC-CH CF Center and is applying to graduate schools. Title of Talk: "Characterization of Pathways Required for TC21 Mediated Transformation of Human Embryonic Kidney Cells”
• Kathryn Reinhard Cappell (2004 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in the MD/Ph.D. program here at UNC-CH. Title of Talk: “CD40L in Sickle Cell Disease”
• Alexa Cook (2004 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in graduate school at the University of Minnesota.  Title of Talk:  “Finding Relationships Between Adenosine and AMPK Signaling Pathways”
• Ronnie Maharaj (2004 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Pharmacology at Cornell University, School of Medicine. Title of Talk: “Characterization of Antibodies for Phospholipase C-ε”
• Viviana Rosado (2004 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in the graduate program in Audiology here at UNC-CH. Title of Talk: “Effect of Ethanol Exposure on Hippocampal Neurogenesis”
• Dave Saper (2004 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in his 1st year of medical school at the University of Chicago School of Medicine. Title of Talk: “Nicharin’s Role in Regulating Cellular Movement”
• Nicholas Bessman (2005 summer fellow) is currently a Research Technician in the Dept. of Ophthalmology at Duke University. Title of Talk: “Mechanisms of Regulation of Phospholipase C Isozymes by Heterotrimeric and Ras Family G-proteins”
• David Brown (2005 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in graduate school at Emory University. Title of Talk: “Building a Fluorescent-CAD Fusion Protein for Protein-Protein Interaction Studies”
• Meredith Brown (2005 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in graduate school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Title of Talk: "Potential Relationship Between CIB Levels & Human Platelet Hyperactivity"
• Amanda Foltz (2005 summer fellow) is currently in her senior year at the University of Pittsburgh, and is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2007 with B.S. in Molecular Biology.  She is currently applying to graduate schools. Title of Talk: “The Role of PilQ in Antibiotic Resistance in Neisseria Gonorrhoeae”
• Ryan Gaffney (2005 summer fellow) is currently enrolled in his 1st year of medical school at Des Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Title of Talk: “The Effects of Ethanol on MCP-1, TNF-alpha, iNOS, and nNOS Induction in HEC Rat Brain Slices”
• Julie Adkins (2006 summer fellow) to graduate in Spring 2008 with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Title of Talk: “Internalization of P2Y1 Receptors in MDCK Cells”
• Alex Berger (2006 summer fellow) to graduate in Spring 2008 with a B.S. in Biology/Psychology. Title of Talk: “Characterization of the Protein Substrates for Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase PRL-3”
• Dustin Bosch (2006 summer fellow) to graduate in Spring 2007 with B.S. in Chemistry/Premed. Title of Talk: “Activation of PLC-γ2 by Rac GTPases”
• Rachel Currin (2006 summer fellow) to graduate in Fall 2006 with B.S. in Biology. Title of Talk: “Steps to Uncovering the Molecular Basis of Human, Pathological Angiogenesis: Determining GTPase Specificity of the RhoGAP RICH2/TEM28”
• Robert Marriott, III (2006 summer fellow) to graduate in Spring 2008 with B.S. in Chemistry. Title of Talk: “Ligation-Independent Cloning of PB1 (Phox/Bem1p) Domain in T7 Promoter-Based Vectors and High-Yield Production of PB1 Domain Recombinant Proteins”
• Amanda Mason (2006 summer fellow) to graduate in Spring 2007 with B.S. in Biology. Title of Talk: “Identifying Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors (GEFs) Regulated by PRL-3 to Promote Invasion and Metastasis”