It is a summer tradition to welcome undergraduate students to train in some of the cutting-edge research labs at the Research Institute of the 平特五不中 Health Centre (RI-MUHC). Their training culminates with the annual Summer Student Research Day at the end of the summer. This event provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate summer trainees to present the results of their research projects to an audience of their peers and members of the RI-MUHC research community. It offers an inclusive and stimulating learning environment for the students to exchange new ideas and make new connections.
On August 11, the annual Summer Student Research Day enjoyed record-breaking participation at the Glen site of the RI-MUHC. Sixteen students gave oral presentations in the Cruess Auditorium, followed by a lively poster session in the RI-MUHC Atrium, where 65 students presented their projects.
鈥淲e鈥檙e so impressed with everyone鈥檚 work and their accomplishments,鈥� said聽, Deputy Executive Director and Deputy Chief Scientific Officer, RI-MUHC, and a senior scientist in the聽, in her opening remarks. 鈥淐ongratulations to all the students, postdoctoral fellows and supervisors who have made this summer research session so successful. This is a very translational research day, with presentations and posters spanning topics from zebrafish to population health. All these research areas exemplify the RI-MUHC 鈥� it allows all of us to learn from each other and to be inspired.鈥�
Chloe Nylligira,聽from the laboratory of聽听(), opened with a talk about the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF聽alpha), an inflammatory cytokine, and its role in infection or injury. The first of three presenters from Dr. Pilote鈥檚 lab,聽Claire Grall-Johnson,聽then presented a talk titled 鈥淎 Sex-stratified Analysis of Social Determinants of Health and Adverse Cardiovascular Outcomes in Atrial Fibrillation,鈥� which explored how various social behaviours and lifestyle choices affect outcomes in male and female patients with atrial fibrillation.聽Hanine Bahsoun,聽a student in聽聽lab (), presented on mucopolysaccharidoses, a group of rare inherited recessive metabolic disorders classified as lysosomal storage diseases.
Alexander-Darius Miron聽from聽聽lab (), followed with a presentation on lymph node dissection in breast cancer patients. The first presentation from the聽聽was by聽Sebastian Grocott,聽titled 鈥淢ultidimensional analysis of SARS-CoV-2-Spike-specific CD4+ T聽cells reveals distinct functional fates linked to protective and pathologic responses.鈥� This study sought to define the immune response triggered by infection or vaccination that protects or predisposes an individual to viral disease.聽Joshua Hazan Mea,聽a student in聽聽lab (), presented on chronic pain in instances of traumatic spinal cord injuries, and聽Emily Foxman,聽from the laboratory of聽听(), presented on the roles of alpha-PIX and beta-PIX in the regulation of Rho GTPases in kidney epithelial cells. The first session concluded with聽Raphael Goldman-Pham鈥檚聽talk on 鈥淎ssociation of genotype-predicted FGF10 expression and lung function in adults,鈥� which explored the relationship between lung function and a protein known as fibroblast grown factor-10 (FGF10). Goldman-Pham鈥檚 research was supervised by聽聽from the聽.
Opening the second session,聽Nicholas Koran聽presented the use of a genetic approach to identify markers of coronary artery disease, jointly supervised by聽, and聽听(both from the CHAL Program).聽Taylor Morganstein鈥檚聽presentation on pelvic organ prolapse based on research conducted in聽聽lab (IRR Program),聽鈥淐omparison of outcomes between vNOTES vs. laparoscopy approaches to uterosacral ligament suspension for pelvic organ prolapse,鈥澛爁ollowed.
A trainee in the laboratory of聽听(BRaIN Program),聽Dasha Vanichkina聽presented on 鈥淚nvestigating the effect of asynchronous target presentation on the efficiency of binocular summation,鈥� while聽Nikhil Jaiswal鈥檚聽presentation, 鈥淧atient and Stakeholder Engagement in Responsible Healthcare Chatbot Development: A Research Perspective,鈥� explored the development of large-language models in artificial intelligence-powered medical chatbots. This work was done under the supervision of聽听(IDIGH Program).
Shreya Udupa聽of聽聽lab (Cancer Research Program) presented on the identification of prognostic biomarkers in prostate cancer, while Divya Kakkar, who studied under聽听(CHHD Program), presented her project, 鈥淯se of zebrafish to resolve genetic findings of uncertain significance in primary ciliary dyskinesia,鈥� which relates to the autosomal recessive orphan disease known as PCD. A talk on 鈥淚vacaftor delivery using polymeric nanocarriers improves cellular response to CFTR correctors,鈥� by聽Ella Boone, supervised by聽听(RESP Program), followed, and聽Shuang Wang, who was supervised by聽听(MeDiC Program), closed out the presentations portion of Summer Student Research Day with the topic, 鈥淯ncovering a novel central pathway regulating body weight.鈥�
Among the poster presenters was J茅r么me Genzling, doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry at 平特五不中. Genzling recently won a聽聽for his presentation, 鈥淐heckmating Pain: Exploring the Links Between Flow Experience, Chess, and Pain Modulation.鈥� Chessable is the world鈥檚 leading dedicated learning platform for chess.
鈥淲e are deeply impressed by the quality of all the posters and presentations, the professionalism of the summer students and the scientific curiosity they have demonstrated,鈥� said Marie-Claude Gingras, manager of the Cancer Research Program, in closing remarks. 鈥淭heir enthusiasm is inspiring, and it is so encouraging that these summer students represent the future of research at the RI-MUHC.鈥�
Congratulations to everyone who participated in this event, particularly to the summer students, and to their supervisors and colleagues who provided such valuable support and training throughout the season.
This event was realized thanks to the exceptional efforts of the 2023 Organizing Committee: Emily Bell, Ariel de Roo, Marie-Claude Gingras, Inga Murawski and Fanny Toussaint.