Badger Grad Chosen for Respected Science Internship
Bar Harbor, Maine—Allyson Palmer, Badger 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, Allyson will study genomics under the guidance of a staff scientist.
Allyson will specifically be studying recombination, the process of inter-chromosomal gene swapping that occurs during cell division. She will work in Dr. Ken Paigen’s lab with the mentorship of postdoctoral assistant Siemon Ng. “The project will help us gain better insight into the fundamental process of meiotic recombination that occurs in all animals, plants, and most other life forms,” Palmer explains.
Allyson will be entering her junior year at The College of Wooster this fall. There, she is majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, while also earning a minor in French. “My graduate school plans really hinge on this summer. I'll use my experience here to decide whether I want to have a future in genetics research,” Allyson says.
Palmer 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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