Ellsworth High School Grad Chosen for Respected Science Internship
Bar Harbor, Maine—Caitlin Liu, Ellsworth High School class of 2006, 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, Liu will study genetics under the guidance of a staff scientist.
While she works in Cathleen Lutz, P.h.D.’s lab, Liu’s research will particularly focus on neuromuscular diseases and disorders. She will look at the genetic backgrounds in mice that have spinal muscular atrophy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, with hopes of better understanding the mechanisms of the diseases.
Caitlin will be finishing her senior year at the University of Maine this fall, where she is majoring in biology. She wants to go to medical school after she graduates, and her experience at the Lab’s SSP is giving her some direction. “Shadowing and internships keep pointing me toward neuromuscular subjects,” she notes. She may take that into account when choosing a field of medicine to pursue.
Liu joins 28 other college and high school students in this summer research opportunity. Their individual projects vary from genomics to development to bioinformatics. “I look forward to making new friends that I can reunite with in the scientific world in the future,” she says.
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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