Allendale Grad Chosen for Respected Science Internship
Bar Harbor, Maine—Sarah DeVos, Allendale High School class of 2005, has been selected to participate in this year’s installment of The Jackson Laboratory’s Summer Student Program. The prestigious program draws high school and undergraduate students to the coast of Maine for an intensive, hands-on learning experience. For ten weeks, Sarah will study genomics under the guidance of a staff scientist.
In the laboratory of Kenneth Paigen, Ph.D., Sarah will work with postdoctoral assistant Lorin Petros. DeVos’ work will particularly involve developing a new way to knockout (or delete) genes. Currently, the process is non-specific and is often incompletely executed. Sarah will work on a new method that is more effective, which could lead to clearer identification of our genetic information.
DeVos is a rising senior at Central Michigan University, where she is majoring in Biology and Neuroscience, and also completing a minor in Chemistry. This summer is expectedly good preparation for her future goal of obtaining a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. “I’m learning new techniques here which are good for studying neurodegenerative disorders,” she explains.
Sarah joins 28 other college and high school students in this summer research opportunity. Their individual projects vary from genomics to development to bioinformatics. Participants reside at Highseas, a nearby century-old mansion, and revel in the many opportunities that Mount Desert Island offers. Weekend camping trips, spontaneous hikes throughout Acadia National Park and a white water rafting adventure complement their time spent uncovering new data in the lab.
Since its inception in 1924, the Summer Student Program has led many students into the world of professional research. Eighty-percent of the program’s more than 2,200 alumni have gone on to successful careers in medicine or biomedical research. Two particular program graduates, Drs. David Baltimore and Howard Temin, received the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The summer interns are an integral part of the Jackson Laboratory’s operation, providing fresh perspectives and keen enthusiasm.
The Jackson Laboratory (www.jax.org) is a nonprofit biomedical research institution and National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center based in Bar Harbor, Maine. Its mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human diseases, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community.
Contact: Joyce Peterson, 207-288-6058
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