Buchholz Senior Chosen for Respected Science Internship
Bar Harbor, Maine—Sarah Pang, F.W. Buchholz High School class of 2009, 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 eight weeks, Pang will study genetics under the guidance of a staff scientist.
In Dr. Bo Chang's laboratory, Sarah will be studying congenital stationary night blindness. Pang will create a mouse model with the condition. Further research will use the model to identify the genetic mutation involved in the development of this blindness.
Pang will be a senior at Buchholz this fall. Though she has no specific post-graduation plans, she is very interested in continuing research. Sarah is delighted with the clinical applications of her work, and is happy that she may be helping people.
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. “The mountains are a nice change of scenery,” Sarah says, referring to the flat Floridian landscape.
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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Office of Public Information
The Jackson Laboratory
600 Main Street
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609-1500
Phone: 207-288-6051
Fax: 207-288-6076
Email: news@jax.org
