StemCell Therapy

Ah, summer vacation. The time of year when high school students laze on the beach, sleep in and stay up late binge watching their favorite TV shows.

But Greenwood native Emelee Guest is doing none of that. Her days have been occupied looking for mutations on Cullin-4B, a gene that has been linked to intellectual disabilities.

Ive been working with gene CUL4B and basically studying mutation E900X, which is basically a truncating mutation and Ive been studying the effects that a treatment called G-418 has on the mutation, is how the 17-year-old describes her work.

An incoming senior at the Governors School for Science and Mathematics in Hartsville, the 17-year-old is taking part in an intensive six-week research experience at the Greenwood Genetic Center under the guidance of Dr. Anand Srivastava, associate director for the facilitys Center for Molecular Studies.

Guest, who spent her freshman and sophomore years at Greenwood High School, said she was drawn to the field of genetics because she has relatives living with cystic fibrosis and epilepsy.

Part of my motivation is to help them. Ive watched them grow up with them, Guest said.

Guest is in elite company. Just one of 12 specialized, residential high schools in the country, the Governors School for Science and Mathematics which has an acceptance process offers more than 50 STEM classes with college and graduate-level opportunities and AP classes that enable students to earn multiple credits before starting their high education careers.

At my old school, we would sit there and learn, but there would be no application of it and there, we have labs once a week and they have more biology electives, Guest said. People say, get there, get anywhere, and its the hardest two years of your life.

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Srivastava, whos taken summer interns from the Governors School for more than 10 years, said the arrangement is mutually beneficial for research institutions like the Genetic Center, which gets access to the next generation of scientists while providing real-world experience for students.

They are very committed, they desire to learn because they have some goals, Srivastava said. We try to design a project that is part of some ongoing project and they get to work with somebody in my lab, which allows them to learn and become independent.

Guest, who is undecided between pursuing a career in genetics and ecology, said the practical skills of working at summer internship in a high pressure laboratory setting are impactful.

I dont think I could have guessed what it was going to be like, just because I havent a lot of experience just some little things in class and its nothing like the real thing, she said. Its a little stressful sometimes because its a lot of small things that have to correctly but once you get used to it, its really exciting.

Contact staff writer Adam Benson at 864-943-5650 or on Twitter @ABensonIJ.

Original post:
Greenwood native doing high-level genetics work in hometown - Index-Journal

This entry was posted on July 12, 2017 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Genetics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |