My Internship

My team researches bone growth and loss in order to treat bone diseases like osteoporosis, which is a disease that causes bones to become weak and brittle and that affects 200 million people worldwide. My role in this project is looking specifically at the bone loss aspect through osteoclast (cells that break down bone tissue) activity, and specific biomarkers that contribute to change in osteoclast activity.

I participated in IU School of Dentistry's Research Day with this presentation and won the Undergraduate Student Research Award. 

Learning and Skills

I want to expand on and improve my scientific writing and comprehension skills so that I'm able to keep up with the content in dental school. I also want to be able to work in a lab independently so that I can work more efficiently in lab classes. Being able to work out solutions and troubleshoot in lab will allow me to better tackle problems as they come up in both dental school and my career as a dentist. I also hope to continue doing research in dental school, so I hope to learn the basics of what goes into dental research now. I want to be able to use the work I'm doing now to contribute to improving my patients lives in the future. 

I'm most excited about actually being able to contribute to research that will help others, and learning skills and information that will be applicable to my time in dental school and as a dentist.

Since my internship site is a bone biology lab, I've been learning a lot about bone. This ties in to what I'm learning in class because it helps me gain a better understanding of the topics I learn about in lectures. For example, in my anatomy class I recently learned about bone growth and formation, and having some experience at my internship allowed me to understand it better. I've learned more about different laboratory techniques. I've primarily been doing qPCR and I've learned how to organize and analyze my data, and derive trends from it. As this semester progressed, I felt myself getting more comfortable and confident in the lab. Some of my favorite experiences are interacting with the other members of the lab as they all have diverse experiences and backgrounds, and it's interesting hearing them talk about their lives and their work in the lab. 

My lab had previously been, and is still studying the same genes and proteins, but how their expression is affected in osteoblasts. My contribution to the lab during my time in LHSI was specifically looking at osteoclasts. Seeing how both osteoblasts and osteoclasts are affected is important in understanding the mechanisms by which they function, and allows us to better suggest therapies for treating bone loss. This knowledge will be helpful in better understanding bone diseases and how to treat them. 

I think I have improved on my problem-solving, constructive criticism, and independence skills over this past year. I would still like to improve on my application and communication skills over the next month by creating a poster presentation, and practice presenting it and answering questions. This will help me improve my communication skills by letting me efficiently condense and present my work. 

The Workplace

My lab team is very supportive and encourages me to approach them for any questions I may have or anything I need help with, which is very encouraging and helpful to me as I don't feel like a burden when I don't know how to do certain tasks. These are characteristics I also want to have. I want to be a professional and team member that people can trust and go to for whatever problem they have. As a dentist, I want to be seen as compassionate and supportive, someone that my patients are comfortable with. However, right now I don't think I'm the strongest communicator so I want to grow in that aspect so that my words and thoughts are conveyed accurately. 

From working with a diverse group, I've learned that everyone has their own set of strengths, and by working together efficiently, much more can be done. Since I am the only undergrad in lab, I've also learned that it's normal for me to be confused about things and even all of the other members of the lab had a lot of questions when starting out. When I started, I wasn't expecting there to be such a big lab group because the lab I had worked at previously had a much smaller group. 

I'm the only undergraduate in the lab that I work in, so I've learned a lot from everyone else, who have much more education and experience than me. I also see how passionate they are about their work, and that inspires me to want to work harder and develop a similar passion for my goals and work. I'd like to continue to grow by being a similar source of information and encouragement to anyone that I may mentor in the future.

My workplace culture provides a sense of support and belonging. Asking questions is encouraged, and the lab group is always helpful in helping to provide answers. My ideal workplace culture would be similar to this, and would have a tight-knit group that is always there to support one another. 

Successes and Challenges

I will expand on my lab skills and knowledge from coursework, and learn more about the different aspects involved in research. 

I felt successful as an intern when I organized and analyzed a big set of data I had been working on. I wasn't sure where to start on this so I talked to my supervisor and other members of the lab who helped me get started. I am confident that I could build on this experience to analyze more complicated data sets. This is also a helpful skill to have in my courses. I've gotten better at analyzing data, which is especially usefulf or lab courses. The most challenging part so far has been trying to understand all the scientific articles necessary to my research. To overcome this, I break the article up into smaller pieces and take notes as I read. If there is a concept or word I don't understand, I look it up on Google and read a little background information on it. If I am still struggling with understanding anything I will be sure to talk with other lab members and my supervisor. My internship team is eager to answer any of my questions, which is something that I really appreciate. I don't feel shy when it comes to asking for help or clarification.

Project Summary

Osteoclasts are the primary cells involved in the process of bone breakdown. Many bone diseases, including osteoporosis and periodontitis, involve increased osteoclast activity. Estrogen also plays a significant role in bone metabolism, and the absence of estrogen leads to increased osteoclast activity. The Pyk2 tyrosine kinase is a key protein involved in the regulation of osteoclast breakdown activity. Absence of Pyk2 decreases osteoclast activity.  

The objective of this study is to establish a potential relationship between Pyk2 and the estrogen receptor (ER) alpha (ERa) and/or beta (ERb) in osteoclasts. In addition, we examined Nedd4 protein, which targets proteins, including the estrogen receptors, for degradation. The overall hypothesis is that absence of Pyk2 may activate Nedd4 to degrade ERa, decreasing osteoclast activity.   

Bone marrow preparation was performed using both male and female wild type (WT) mice, as well as from mice that were missing the Pyk2 gene (Pyk2 KO). Bone marrow cells were then cultured with media to induce osteoclast formation. Mature osteoclasts were used for qPCR analysis to measure gene expression of the genes mentioned. The results suggest that in the absence of Pyk2, Nedd4 expression is upregulated, with no differences in ERa/ERb levels.