Research programs available for undergrads

By Darlene Dela Cruz
    
University of Hawai‘i Manoa biology student Yasmin Dar performs brain surgery on lab rats. Kristine Ito-Smith, also a biology student, has worked with enzyme functions, and now does cancer and tumor research.

Graduate researchers, they're not. These "researchers" are actually undergrads involved in the Haumana and MARC U*STAR research and training programs -- two unique UHM opportunities provided by the Pacific Biosciences Research Center, where undergraduate science majors can gain laboratory experience and training toward a future in Ph.D. graduate research.

In a university touted for the achievement of its graduate and faculty researchers, undergrads doing research is an unheard of concept to many students. "I didn't even know undergraduates could do research," says Ito-Smith, a UHM senior and MARC U*STAR student. "Now I know that it's possible; that there are people who are willing to help you out."

"The program gives you an experience that undergraduates usually don't have," says Dar, a Haumana student and senior at UHM.

Haumana and MARC U*STAR share the same premise of pairing graduate and faculty researchers with undergrads to assist in their research projects. Both programs allow the undergrads to personally interview any graduate and faculty researcher -- the "principal investigator" (PI) of a research project -- involved in the program before choosing a project.

Kimberly Llanos, an administrative assistant and a graduate of the Haumana program, says "That allows the undergrads to look at what (the researchers) are offering and know their focus."

When finally paired with the researcher of their choice, undergrads in both programs perform lab duties more intensive than the minimal tasks usually given to undergrads.

"It goes way beyond 'dishwasher,'" Ito-Smith says. Aside from a graduate student serving as her mentor, Ito-Smith says she feels like the "primary researcher" in her PI's cancer research project.

Dar, who studies rats' behavior in response to fear stimuli, says her lab duties run the gamut from watching and "scoring" rats' behaviors on a TV screen to actually dissecting rat brains and performing histology tests on them.

"I started out as a dishwasher, but my PI allowed me to observe and try new things when I was ready. He was very patient with my mistakes," Dar says.

Dar is now lab-certified and is more involved in the rat study, which, she says, may have some human implications in determining the effect of drugs on sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder.  

"Where students take their research is entirely up to them," says Llanos, who researched selenoproteins and their antioxidental properties during her one year stint with Haumana.

One MARC U*STAR student, zoology senior Nic Velasco, has even branched off into his own project. While studying invasive algae with his PI, Dr. Celia M. Smith, Velasco embarked on his own study of the population habits of an octopus species. "I've become my own researcher," Velasco says.

While identical in premise, Haumana and MARC U*STAR differ in their requirements of their students. According to Llanos, Haumana is geared more toward the novice undergrad researcher -- those students who are toying with the idea of a research career, but haven't had prior lab experience. MARC U*STAR is for the more trained undergrad, certain to pursue some form of Ph.D. research after graduation.

Haumana and MARC U*STAR also differ in their GPA requirements, with Haumana looking for students with GPAs 3.0 and above, and MARC U*STAR requiring a 3.25 or above GPA from its students. With a pre-application before a full interview screening, Haumana and MARC U*STAR have a stringent selection process in choosing students for its limited amount of spots: Haumana only admits 12 students; MARC U*STAR, just 10.

Ultimately, Haumana and MARC U*STAR aim to get its undergrads on the fast track to graduate school. The programs seek to mold its undergrads into competitive Ph.D. candidates in the future. This is accomplished through special classes that integrate the scientific aspects of Ph.D. research with out-of-the-lab training in presentation skills and curriculum vitae preparation.

Students also present their research in national science conferences, where they network and collaborate with other mainland researchers. Aside from those benefits, students receive supply funds and a stipend, as well as partial tuition payment for those in the MARC U*STAR program.

These benefits have made an impact on the programs' students. "It's opened my eyes to biomedical research," says Velasco, who says he plans on attending graduate school at UHM after finishing his undergrad studies this spring.

Dar, who graduates next fall and was initially undecided on what to do with her future biology degree, says Haumana has broadened her career horizons. "I got to explore different industries and be exposed to different fields. I'm now looking at different options other than medical school," she says. "Along with medical school, I'd like to do research on the side, too."

Through MARC U*STAR, Ito-Smith spent the summer doing research at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, and hopes to work toward her Ph.D. there after graduating from UH this spring.

"I never would've even known about graduate school if it weren't for MARC U*STAR," she says. "It's made me much more competitive and much more confident that I can do it."

Haumana and MARC U*STAR have been at the UHM campus since the 1970s. Both programs are funded by the National Institute of Health. For more information, visit www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/haumana.