Testimonials
“Being a Biology major, it is rewarding to be able to take the skills and knowledge I learned in class and lab and apply them towards a funded project. … It is nice to be able to understand why the topics we learn in class are so important to science-related careers. This project will provide me with a better understanding of an illness that affects the health field.”
– Danielle Boyd, Class of 2009
“Not only is it a valuable educational experience, but it could potentially aid in the treatment of a dangerous, potentially lethal disease. I think it’s fantastic that even as an undergraduate, I can make some sort of scientific contribution to the world now. Instead of reading the instructions for the lab out of a manual, the plans came out of a brainstorming session that included our own interests and ideas. Our classroom microscope skills and aseptic techniques were put into an occupation-esque setting, where they were tested and refined. After just one semester working with Dr. Rago on the project, I feel like a real scientist. I think I’ve learned that the ultimate motivator is responsibility.”
– Melissa Pomeroy, Class of 2010
"My name is Peter Tanaka. I graduated from Lewis in May, 2010 and promptly, very fortuitously, was hired to work as a research assistant doing electrophysiology in a neuroscience pharmacology lab at the medical center of Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan.
As a research assistant, there are many tasks that I perform. Primarily, I have helped my boss, Dr. Rodrigo Andrade, with two projects. The basis for obtaining results in these projects lays within whole-cell patch recording- a fascinating technique that, in theory, seems almost like science fiction. Essentially, what happens is that electrodes are hooked up to live, individual neurons in the brain. With the use of an amplifier, digitizer, and oscilloscope, voltage and current can be manipulated, measured, and viewed on a computer. With the use of toxins and different buffers, individual channels can be isolated and certain properties of theirs can be discerned. One project that we have done studies how the inward current changes with age in layer V pyramidal cells of the prefrontal cortex when carbachol, an ACH agonist, is administered. The other project attempts to show a relationship between TRPC channels and the mediation of the sADP current that occurs with the administration of carbachol.
These projects have kept me very busy over the past months. What is important, though, is that I have had so much fun working at this research lab. It has truly been a rapturous and enriching experience. I think what I love most about the job is the discovery. One of the defining moments in the lab that really pushed me towards the idea of doing research as a career happened on a cold, rainy November afternoon. I had just patched onto two billowing pyramidal cells and was holding them at -60 mV in voltage clamp. Dr. Andrade came to my rig and quickly devised a protocol that would help us better distinguish the function of the TRPC channels. When we started running the experiment, we sat eagerly watching the computer screen as the results unfolded. With his intent gaze not leaving the screen, my boss quietly remarked, “You know, we are the first people in the world to be observing this phenomenon.” This pithy observation deeply affected me. It instilled the idea that I could potentially spend the rest of my life trying to make the unknown known - making small discoveries that may one day be beneficial to society. I am very thankful to have been given such an opportunity to do research at this lab and hope that I can continue to tread further into the field of neuroscience. "
– Peter Tanaka, Class of 2010
“The project was a good start to help me understand what I might be doing the rest of my life because at that point I really became committed to working in a laboratory as a career. “My research for the Doherty Center made me more comfortable working in a lab setting as well as become more comfortable using dangerous chemicals. I got to perfect the good lab practice skills that I was taught in my labs at Lewis University. I appreciate the time management skills I acquired because all the tests I perform at my job are time sensitive. With the help of the Doherty Center, Lewis students have access to a larger network of people to be introduced to bigger and better things. … I think that since I was able to attend an important conference by completing my research project, the student community at Lewis University can be inspired to want to accomplish the same goals I had with accepting the responsibility of a large research project. It was wonderful to work closely with a member of the faculty and have all the other professors asking about how the work was going.”
– Pamela Wilcher, Class of 2008
