Caroline Brown is currently a sophomore in the College majoring in Biology with a minor in English. She intends to attend graduate school and then pursue a career as a genetic counselor.
Experience in Research:
Caroline cites older students in the Biology department as her reason for participating in scientific research at Georgetown. She spoke to other students in her biology classes who urged her to get involved with the labs that Georgetown had to offer. Her interests in genetics led her to reach out to Dr. Elena Silva who heads the Silva Neurodevelopment Lab. The lab is a combination of genetics, development, and genetics.
The organism of focus in the lab is the African clawed Xenopus laevis frog and the acorn worm Saccoglossus kowalevski. Caroline’s work in the lab explores the roles of different proteins on neurogenesis in the Xenopus laevis frog. Specifically, she looks at the Huwe 1 protein, which is a E3 ubiquitin-ligase. She looks at the interaction of this protein in its role in degrading neurog2, which functions as a transcriptional activator. Carolien says that studying these particular pathways is important in our overall understanding of neurogenesis. This knowledge can eventually be applied to therapies that treat various neurodegenerative diseases and injuries to the central nervous system.
Reflection:
During Caroline’s time in the lab thus far, she has been about to explore many different areas of genetic research. She has been exposed to different components of genetics that she did not know existed prior to her work. Caroline says that due to the speed in which genetic research takes place, science classes can’t always keep up with the most recent developments and literature. Working with a team of researchers has given her the opportunity to learn about the recent advancements in the field. Her research is at the intersection of various subject areas, but has provided her with necessary research skills that have gone beyond what is learned in the classroom. The cross sections of development, neurobiology, and genetics in Caroline’s research has shown her these areas together can work to create more effective treatments and therapies in the field.