Channel is a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major with minors in Mathematics and Sociology (class of 2018).

During my paid summer internship at the Institute for Regenerative Engineering in Farmington, Connecticut, I was at the University of Connecticut Health Center, School of Medicine in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. I was a participant in the Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) Program, under the instruction of Dr. Cato T. Laurencin, a recent award recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the Nation's highest Honor for Technological Achievement.  My project focused on the Development and Characterization of Human Recombinant Lactoferrin Nanofibers as Scaffolds for Regenerative Engineering. I studied the regeneration of bone, skin and cartilage growth in-vitro and in-vivo, with electrospun nanofibers, coated in various proteins that are found in both blood, like Albumin and in bone, like Lactoferrin. I used various solvents and concentrations to create a stable nanofiber, that would induce increased Bone Cell viability and proliferation, while also activation biodegradation upon cell regeneration. For tests with cartilage and bone, I used hydro gels that were surgically implanted in mice and rats. I was able to gain a confident skill set in Cell Culturing, Cell Suspension, Immunostaining, ALZ Staining, Live/Dead staining, and with using the Scanning Electron Microscope for various imaging. I have also gained skill in using Image J analysis, FTIR analysis, Electros pinning, Titer Blue Assay, and Cross-linking. I was trained to used the Confocal Microscope, with the Velocity Imaging Program, Lab Safety, Animal Safety,  and Rat Implantation and Surgical Stitch Patterns.

How did you find the research opportunity?
I realized that I wanted to have a career in Medicinal Research and noticed that I had an interest in the Musculoskeletal System. I researched African American Cutting Edge Researchers and Dr. Laurencin popped up. I was so intrigued with his accomplishments and research projects. I just knew I needed to work under him and with him. A friend of mine pepped talked me into emailing him that night, (it was 2:00am!), because she knew I'd chicken out when the excitement ended. So, I emailed him and asked him to be m mentor. I also mentioned that I wanted to do research with him during the summer and quite honestly, to my amazement, Dr. Laurencin emailed me back in the next hour and set up a teleconference from there. The rest is history!

How did you learn what you needed to know to be successful in this project? This project has definitely taught me so much about myself and about the world of Science. My Graduate Assistant, Eric James, a recent PhD recipient, was amazing! He quickly realized that this was all new to me, but did not lighten up on his expectations. He made to teach me the reasoning and purpose behind certain research methods and topics, but also introduced me to the Medical Library, PubMed, and other various sources for additional help. Eric also cared about my critical understanding for Medical Research and understanding Medical Research Papers. During that time, there was a Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering Journal Club. Eric made sure that we attended meetings weekly and I even got a chance to present a review of a research paper. I Participated in this  journal club, that was designed to understand molecular aspects of cell biology and tissue engineering scientific literature. Presentations include “Language of Science” and “How to read and understand a science article”.

What was the hardest part about your research?The hardest part about my research would have been the numerous trials with error and repeat. Initially, it was hard dealing with that many negative results. It was quite discouraging, but Eric continued to reassure me in qualitative critic and support. I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.It was then where I truly learned PERSERVERANCE!

What was the most unexpected thing? I did not know how much of a family a research (SQUAD) could really be. Honestly, I thought research was suppose to be sleep, lab, work, and repeat, but it wasn't, at all! This lab was amazing! My cohort and I went out to eat, to the movies, the mall and even had dinner at my house. Dr. Laurencin even invited us over his house and allowed us to get to know his family and him, in a more personal level. How cool was that?!

How does this research experience relate to your work in other classes? My research correlates to so many classes that I am taking now, for instance, toxicology, with Dr. Fishbein. We talk a lot about the toxins that can affect blood and during my experience with REM, we spoke a lot about the importance of Blood, not just in circulation, but especially for your bone health. I can also relate this course to a previous course, Organic Chemistry II, which depicts mechanisms and various conformational changes due to their affects. This was definitely practiced in lab, as I had to continue testing various solvents, at various concentrations with Albumin and Lactoferrin.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research? GET. IN. VOLVED. I can not express how much research really helped anchor me, as a student at UMBC. It's easy to get caught up in classes and GPA, but when you actually practice what you have always wanted to do, there is a rush that happens within you. There's a focus that comes to you. All of a sudden, things make sense. It's no longer school, because my parents say so, its school because I want to be my MENTOR!

What are your career goals? I am planning on going into the Medical Field, also studying Regenerative Engineering with Stem Cell Treatment to Bio-printed Organs and Tissues.

What else are you involved in? I am the President of United Christian Council, a member of the Retriever Leadership Institute, a Mathematics Grader/Tutor, STEM Education Advocate for students in Baltimore City, a Mentor and friend!

Have mentor-led research and want to be featured as UMBC's next Researcher of the Week? email aprilh@umbc.edu

Eminent Speaker Peter J. Buxtun

“The Tuskegee Syphilis Study”

Meet Undergraduate Researcher Emily Slaby, Chemical Engineering class of 2018!

Title of Research Project: Boosting Immune Cells using Plasma Membrane-inserting Drugs to Combat Cancer

Who is your mentor for your research project? I emailed a few professors in my department about lab positions and I included my enthusiasm about cancer research when one of them connected me to Professor Gregory Szeto, Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering . I contacted Dr. Szeto with my resume and answered a few questions about my interests and goals. The lab had just opened in January 2016, so I helped with the startup and started learning about immunology. My mentor encouraged a few of my lab members to apply for an Undergraduate Research Award (URA) to help us explain our projects and get ready to present at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD). It really helped me understand the background and explain my project better to lab members who did not do similar work. The URA application was like writing a grant proposal, without preliminary results.

How did you know this was the project you wanted to do? I studied the relationship between stem cells, cancer, and aging during an English research paper my first year of community college. Cancer research interested me because of the complexity of the disease, and this was a wonderful opportunity to build my skills and apply myself. I have learned so much about cancer stages, therapies, and immunology through this project.

Do you get course credit for this work? I currently get course credit as an elective for my chemical engineering bachelor’s degree. A comprehensive report is required to compile results and relate the research back to chemical engineering cores. This helps me apply concepts learned in classes to research applications.

How much time do you put into it? During the semester, I put in about 15-20 hours of lab and outside research time. This time may be spent performing experiments, analyzing results, or making presentations to explain results. During the summer, I have much more time to explore my project and try new things, so I am usually there about 40 hours per week.

What has been the hardest part about your research? The hardest part of the research is troubleshooting after analyzing the results. This is also what makes research fun, interesting, and unexpected. New discoveries can come from unexpected results, so the hardest part is the most interesting. I love the challenge of finding the little things that affect results the most.

What was the most unexpected thing? It is amazing how close you become with lab members and how much input they have when something does not go quite right. We each have different strengths and background to help fill in the gaps, keep each other thinking on our feet, and keep us learning more about our projects each day.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?Think about a few areas of research that interest you, and look on the departments’ websites to find labs that you want to explore. Do not be afraid to go outside your department! You can gain tons of new perspectives with interdisciplinary research. Reach out to the professors about your interests, ideas, and how you think this collaboration would help both of you!

What are your career goals? My main goal is to stay in disease-based research by pursuing a Ph.D. to continue my education and passion for research. I want to combine my chemical engineering background with biomolecular engineering to discover therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer. During the next year, I want to get more exposure to research labs at graduate schools that align my interests in engineering and immunology to develop broadly applicable platforms as therapies for human diseases. After my Ph.D., I want to go into research and development in industry to continue designing therapies.

Have mentor-led research and want to be featured as a UMBC Researcher of the Week? Email: aprilh@umbc.edu

The third and fourth floors of the AOK Library are Quiet areas.  These are good places to study if you don’t mind the occasional whisper or vibrating phone.

The fifth and sixth floors of the AOK Library are designated Absolute Quiet areas at all times.  If you need an environment free from talking, cell phones, or any other noise sources, these are the floors for you!  Library staff walk through the area periodically to enforce quiet rules, but you can also report violations to the Security Desk at 410-455-2331 or Circulation Department staff at 410-455-2354.

Mia is using her URA research and creative work to raise awareness about human trafficking!

Mia is a Theatre Design & Production major, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Minor, and a Linehan Artist Scholar, who will graduate in 2019. Her URA research project is entitled, "Visual Storytelling Applied to Human Trafficking Awareness".

Describe your project: With funding from my Undergraduate Research Award (URA), I attended the 2017 Summer Scene Painting session at Cobalt Studios in New York. I am applying the painting skills I built there to both my research in scenic designing the production of Far Away at UMBC in the spring, as well as creating a large-scale mural to visually tell stories of human trafficking.

Who is your mentor(s) for your project? How did you find your mentor? Why did you choose them?

Professor Sinnott is my advisor and mentor in the UMBC Theatre Department who I work with frequently, in both design and painting for productions. Professor Sinnott has been my mentor from the beginning of this research, and is mentoring my theatrical research and production for Far Away in the spring.

I am currently taking Social Entrepreneurship in Place with Professor Bradley and, through that class, collaborating with him on arts-based community engagement projects in Curtis Bay. Professor Bradley is mentoring me in community-based research and artistic responses and solutions to social issues.

How did you become interested in this project? How has it evolved?

My mentor, Professor Nate Sinnott, first recommended I attend a session at Cobalt Studios; in addition, throughout the summer, I was reading the UMBC first-year experience book, Half the Sky, which was propelling my existing investment in the fight against human trafficking into greater action. As I began to take Social Entrepreneurship in Place in the fall with Professor Stephen Bradley, I realized that I wanted my research for the Undergraduate Research Award to evolve into a parallel project of creating a mural for URCAD. Now, I am exploring parallel themes of dehumanization in both Far Away by Caryl Churchill, and in our world today through human trafficking. In addition, I am partnering with nonprofit organizations in the Baltimore area whose missions are to end domestic child sex trafficking, provide care for survivors of women’s domestic sex trafficking, and empowerment of women.

What has been the hardest part about your research?

In dealing with heavy themes, it can be difficult to continue to stay engaged with the material. I have found it most difficult to stay continually engaged with the realities of human trafficking: to keep learning.

What has been the most rewarding part?

I have been astonished at how well my research is connecting. Once I allowed my ideas to change, and let my research become flexible, I was worried that my original studies through theatre might feel irrelevant, or even distracting, from this other goal. This has not been the case. In fact, I have felt a greater motivation through my theatrical research, as I am exploring themes in both a practical production and an artistic response to a social issue.

I will be presenting at URCAD on April 25th, and the spring production of Caryl Churchill's Far Away will be staged from March 9th through March 11th.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research? 

I would like to say this a little bit poetically:

jump in

dive in

be unafraid of change

and see where it carries you

be ready for hard work

be ready for not-enough-time

get creative

be thrifty

be ready for excitement

be ready for some let-downs

but jump in

What are your career goals?

My career goals are:

To always give my utmost effort to any work I am doing.

To be a creative and innovative force.

To collaborate, communicate and engage with community.

My highest hopes are to continue using art as a tool for raising awareness about human trafficking; whether that be through theatre, visual art, socialpreneurship or nonprofit intrepreneurship. Ultimately, though, I care most that I am achieving these three goals, regardless of the work I am able to do.

Want to be featured as a Researcher of the Week? Email: aprilh@umbc.edu 

The First Year Intervention Program (FYI) is one of the many services that the Learning Resources Center offers to UMBC students. 

The purpose of the program is twofold: to notify students in their first year at UMBC that they are in jeopardy of receiving a D or F in a certain course and to provide them with resources to improve their grade in that course and preserve their GPA. 

By alerting students early in the semester, students have the ability to make the necessary changes to improve their grade and become successful in their academic careers. 

When do FYI alerts get sent?

The FYI reporting period for the Fall 2017 semester is scheduled run from Monday, October 2, 2017 through Friday, November 3, 2017.

Help! I got an alert in one of my courses! What should I do?

Your professor sent you an alert because you are in danger of receiving a D or an F in that course. The first thing you should do is to contact your professor to figure out what your exact grade is and what you can do about it. Next, visit our Action Resource Center to see if there’s any services at UMBC that can help you improve your grade.

You can also schedule an academic success meeting with a staff member at the Learning Resources Center.  

I got an alert, but I’m not in my first year at UMBC.

The alert program is designed to notify students in their first year at UMBC; however, instructors have the ability to send alerts to any student who is in danger of receiving a D or F in the course. If you received an alert, it means that your grade is in jeopardy and you should take action immediately.

If I’m in danger of receiving a D or an F, doesn’t that mean I could still be passing?

It is possible, but you could just barely be passing. If you are in a course that has a second level to it (such as MATH 150, or BIOL 141), you MUST receive a C or higher to move on to the next level. If you are trying to fulfill your GEP requirements with a course, you MUST have a C or higher for it to count. This is why we ask professors to let you know if you are in danger of receiving a D.  

If you have any further questions about the FYI program, please email fyi@umbc.edu