{"id":5951,"date":"2016-06-23T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/undergraduates-ride-the-surf-to-an-invaluable-summer-research-experience\/"},"modified":"2023-04-19T11:11:18","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T18:11:18","slug":"undergraduates-ride-the-surf-to-an-invaluable-summer-research-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/undergraduates-ride-the-surf-to-an-invaluable-summer-research-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Undergraduates ride the SURF to an invaluable summer research experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n            \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-2377-690x432.jpg\"\n                    data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Undergraduates ride the SURF to an invaluable summer research experience\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Researchers in Dion Dickman&#8217;s laboratory study synapses \u2014 the fundamental units of nervous system function. This image shows a healthy (left) and mutant (right) neuromuscular synapse that have been immunostained for presynaptic neuronal (green) and postsynaptic muscle (red) structures. Image courtesy of Pragya Goel, Dickman Lab.\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Undergraduates ride the SURF to an invaluable summer research experience<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Thanks to USC Dornsife\u2019s Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF), five undergraduates expand their knowledge of neuroscience and genetics while working over the summer in the laboratory of Dion Dickman of biological sciences.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Susan Bell<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">June 23, 2016<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n  \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>A junior majoring in <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/usc-neuroscience\/\">neuroscience<\/a> at USC Dornsife, Daniel Hojoon Kim is determined to become either a neurologist or a neurosurgeon. This summer, he took another important step on his path to realizing that cherished goal when he joined the laboratory of Dion Dickman, assistant professor of biological sciences.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/labs\/dickmanlab\">Dickman&rsquo;s lab<\/a> researches synapses &mdash; the points of communication between two different cells, usually neurons, in the brain.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We study how synapses develop and function in general, and, in particular, the remarkable plasticity of synapses, which allows them to change in structure and function,&rdquo; Dickman said.<\/p>\n<p>Synapses are the fundamental units of nervous system function. So any defects in synaptic structure or function, or in their plasticity and ability to change, likely contributes to a variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/medlineplus\/schizophrenia.html\">schizophrenia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nimh.nih.gov\/health\/topics\/bipolar-disorder\/index.shtml\">bipolar disorder<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ninds.nih.gov\/disorders\/epilepsy\/epilepsy.htm\">epilepsy<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nimh.nih.gov\/health\/topics\/autism-spectrum-disorders-asd\/index.shtml\">autism spectrum disorder<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Dickman&rsquo;s research may, in the long run, have therapeutic potential for treatment of such diseases.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-image-portrait news-image-right\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/Dickman2-2377.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait Right\"><\/p>\n<p>Dion Dickman, assistant professor of&nbsp;biological sciences. Photo by Peter Zhaoyu Zhou.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Kim joined Dickman&rsquo;s lab because of his interest in discovering how the nervous system functions and stabilizes itself, perhaps adapting to, and preventing, neurodegenerative diseases. He was able to spend the summer working with Dickman and his team, amassing experience he describes as &ldquo;invaluable&rdquo; thanks to funding from the <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/surf\">Summer Undergraduate Research Fund<\/a> (SURF).<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s this hands-on reinforcing that I love in the field of research,&rdquo; Kim said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not just in class learning about an experiment; you&rsquo;re actually doing it yourself, reviewing the results, thinking critically about why or how they occurred and how to resolve any issues or discrepancies.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fruit flies and jellyfish &mdash; a winning combination for science<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To conduct his research on synapses, Dickman uses the recently developed MiMIC (Minos Mediated Integration Cassette) Library. Created by Hugo Bellen at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, the library holds maintains about a thousand <em>Drosophila melanogaster <\/em>(fruit fly)genes, each tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP) at its genomic location. GFP is a gene taken from jellyfish that expresses a protein that glows bright green when placed under blue light.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The genetics of a fly are very similar to that of a human,&rdquo; Dickman said. &ldquo;So studying <em>Drosophila<\/em> is a great way for young scientists to do real laboratory research and learn how genetics actually works.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Dickman&rsquo;s team orders flies from the MiMIC Library with certain GFP-tagged genes that it knows &mdash; or suspects &mdash; function at synapses.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;First we look at whether we can see green fluorescence at synapses that would indicate that the gene we are interested in actually is expressed and localized to the synaptic structures that we&rsquo;re interested in,&rdquo; Dickman said. &ldquo;If it is, we try then to manipulate those genes and proteins in ways that help us understand their functions at synapses.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Real-world applications<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dickman&rsquo;s lab is renowned for its work on a process called <em>homeostatic synaptic plasticity<\/em>, an adaptive process that keeps the brain functioning at stable levels despite the perturbations that may impair synapses during development, aging, and disease. For example, uncontrolled synaptic activity can lead to the kind of seizures seen in epilepsy. Dickman and his team study the mechanisms that maintain stable synaptic function by trying to identify genes, that when mutated, lead to homeostatic dysfunction at synapse. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-image-portrait news-image-left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/Dickman3c-2377.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait Left\"><\/p>\n<p>Daniel Kim, a&nbsp;junior majoring in&nbsp;neuroscience, is one of the undergraduate researchers in the Dickman Lab to benefit from USC Dornsife&#8217;s SURF. Photo courtesy of Daniel Kim.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;The human version of one such gene that we identified in flies is implicated in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,&rdquo; Dickman said. &ldquo;So one contributing factor to psychiatric diseases like schizophrenia in humans may plausibly be related to defective homeostatic plasticity. We are therefore keenly interested in identifying genes that function at synapses to control and stabilize their activity.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Many drugs that we know and that are being developed can target this ability of synapses to adjust their strength and, perhaps, compensate for defective homeostatic control of their activity,&rdquo; Dickman said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We hope that what will emerge from this field will be a better understanding of these diseases and, ideally, better therapeutic ways of intervening to treat and prevent them from happening.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learning by doing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In addition to expanding his knowledge of neuroscience and genetics, Kim, who is also pursuing a minor in information technology from <a href=\"http:\/\/viterbi.usc.edu\/\">USC Viterbi School of Engineering<\/a>, said the research experience has fostered his ability to work both independently and with academics in a professional setting.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The laboratory environment really encourages initiative,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Undergraduates are expected to learn from the senior students quickly, engage intellectually and critically, and contribute to the optimization of the project. I&rsquo;ve become much more confident and comfortable in both my knowledge of the nervous system and my interaction with others, especially academics.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>A chance to get published<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dickman&rsquo;s undergraduate research assistants usually have an opportunity to contribute authorship to an academic research paper, which can help them as they apply for graduate or medical school.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;My students work hard, usually 30 to 40 hours a week throughout the summer,&rdquo; Dickman said. &ldquo;They also contribute throughout the academic year and typically come on for a second, and sometimes third, summer during their college career. Contributing authorship to a high impact publication while still an undergraduate is a testament to their dedication, work ethic and sustainment of interest in the lab.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>SURF makes it all possible<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dickman describes the undergraduates as &ldquo;a key asset&rdquo; in getting important new projects up and running.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;SURF funding is crucial in getting the support needed for the undergraduates to spend the summer working in my lab to get these projects going from scratch,&rdquo; Dickman said. &ldquo;Really, none of this would be possible without this generous commitment from USC to undergraduate research through SURF funding. I&rsquo;m deeply grateful for that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to USC Dornsife\u2019s Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF), five undergraduates expand their knowledge of neuroscience and genetics while working over the summer in the laboratory of Dion Dickman of biological sciences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,17],"tags":[117,880,116,96,106,1078],"class_list":["post-5951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-student","tag-biology","tag-dion-dickman","tag-genetics-and-genomics","tag-natural-sciences","tag-neuroscience","tag-summer-undergraduate-research-fund"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - 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