BMCC students are actively involved in scientific research-2

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This past summer and during this academic year,... (more)
Added: January 08, 2008
This past summer and during this academic year, 12 students took part in a laboratory research project aimed at studying how two chemicals associated with many foods can protect the body against cancer. On the face of it, their experience was typical of what they might have expected at any top-rated four-year university—except that such programs and the lab facilities to support them are a rarity at community colleges. This one took place in a full-scale tissue culture/molecular biology lab at BMCC.

Today, several of those students continue to log long hours in the lab under the supervision of three BMCC science faculty members -- Sarah Salm, Patricia DeLeon and Lauren Goodwyn. As they gain proficiency in protein extraction, culturing cells, data analysis and other research skills, they are shedding new light on how butyrate, a byproduct of the metabolism of fiber, and omega fatty acids slow the growth of colon cancer. "The students are practicing graduate level techniques and have the potential to make an invaluable contribution to our scientific knowledge," Salm says.

They are not an isolated phenomenon. These days, BMCC students are actively pursuing a range of ambitious research projects initiatives on the frontiers of scientific research.

This past summer, for example, Ryan Natividad received a BMCC STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) grant to work with associate professor Melissa Nashat in a project at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he analyzed P24, a protein commonly present in brains inflamed by HIV encephalitis.

"Lab work takes time and patience and you don't always get the results you're looking for," says Natividad, who hopes to become a physician. "Still, it's incredibly exciting." As a premed student, Nashat adds, "Ryan will find that he has an advantage over his peers because he's had this experience."

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Channel: Education
Uploaded: January 8, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Author: CUNYBMCC

Length: 00:07:27
Rating: 0.00
Views: 236

Tags: BMCC Science Research

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