Student Innovators Advance Biomedical Research

October 21, 2024

by Kiana Pinkard

At UC Berkeley, the next wave of medical and biological research isn’t just coming from our renowned faculty — it’s being driven by undergraduates. With the help of the College of Letters and Science’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF L&S) program, students have undertaken independent projects and made their own notable discoveries this past summer.

SURF L&S supports undergraduates with funding to carry out research in preparation for a senior thesis or other major capstone project. Each student is part of a small cohort mentored by a graduate student from their respective L&S division. In addition to orientation and at least four workshops, students attend four small group meetings with their cohort and submit a mid-progress report where they get feedback from their mentor and fellow students. At the end of the program, they give a formal presentation and submit a final report on their research findings. This year, donors generously funded 82 fellows with a $5,000 stipend each.

Understanding Differences in Psychedelic Effects

One 2024 SURF Fellow, Anna Jacobowitz, spent this past summer working on a project investigating the sex-specific neural responses to psilocybin, a psychedelic compound found in certain mushrooms. Due to preliminary results showing effectiveness for people with addiction, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), researchers from Daniela Kaufer’s Lab, which Anna, now a senior, has worked at since her freshman year, began focusing on psychedelics. People were starting to see their potential value, but the brain mechanisms were still far from understood.

While investigating the effects of psychedelics on the hippocampus, the brain structure essential for memory formation and learning, Anna discovered significant differences in neuronal activation between male and female mice. This finding sparked her decision to pursue this topic for her SURF project.

“I think it has a lot of potential,” Anna said. “Right now, I’m only looking at one area of the brain, but there are a lot of other areas that play a role in memory, emotion, and thought processing. I’m hoping to look into different parts of the brain for my honors thesis.”

Shedding Light on Asymptomatic Infections

Another fellow, Neeraja Sripada, discovered that rectal chlamydia is not associated with inflammation. As an assistant at UCSF’s Deborah Dean’s Lab for two years, Neeraja became interested in the sexually transmitted infections that are associated with severe consequences like infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease in women.

“Rectal chlamydial infections have only recently been shown to be much more prevalent in women than previously thought,” Neeraja said, “and because these infections are usually asymptomatic and occur in the absence of any reported risk behaviors, it can be really difficult to know when to recommend testing.”

The initial findings from Neeraja’s SURF project may help explain why many of these infections are asymptomatic and ultimately lead to more precise treatment.

Investigating How Viruses Evade the Immune System

Fourth-year Sohaib Butt’s SURF project explored how human cytomegalovirus — a highly prevalent type of herpes — evades immune responses by manipulating certain proteins, closely following his lab's work on immune evasion. Sohaib specifically focused on the role of ERAAP, a protein essential for helping immune cells recognize and destroy infected cells.

“In many ways, it feels like SURF has helped be a continuation of what I've already been doing in the lab,” said the molecular and cell biology major. Although Sohaib’s research directly built on his previous work in Laurent Coscoy’s lab, SURF presented new learning opportunities. Writing the project proposal was a particularly challenging endeavor for the fourth-year student. Working closely with his mentor and lab colleagues, he had to carefully consider what he and his colleagues wanted to find, what experiments to conduct, how to troubleshoot potential problems, and which existing literature to analyze.

“However, I really enjoyed that process,” Sohaib reflected. “Writing up a proposal is also going to help me tremendously when I want to complete my senior honors thesis and apply to Ph.D. programs.”

The Office of Undergraduate Research & Scholarships runs SURF

Anna Jacobowitz

Neeraja Sripada

Sohaib Butt

Opportunities for Growth

Neeraja also found writing the initial abstract a valuable challenge, crediting it with helping her think more critically about her research, alongside the mid-summer report and final presentation. She noted, “The SURF cohort meetings were a new way for me to get feedback from people who didn’t already know the topic, which was really helpful in guiding my research.”

Until SURF, Neeraja recalled mostly running experiments and processing samples rather than evaluating the data. Beyond teaching new presentation techniques and strategies, the workshops provided an opportunity for her to assemble and analyze the results herself.

“Being able to present my project at the end-of-summer presentations was very rewarding, especially since this was the first time I was able to share actual results and graphs during the presentation,” said Neeraja.

For Anna, having full independence over her research project also came with a learning curve. Compared to her experience assisting graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, she found tasks like coordinating with multiple people, managing her time, and dealing with unsatisfying data and small problems much more consequential. Additionally, the mental responsibility of being in charge of a project was not a light burden. Everything was on her own timeline, without regular supervision, and — as she had to go home for part of the summer — it was up to her to figure out how to accomplish everything before leaving.

Despite the struggles, Anna felt that these very challenges were what contributed to her growth as a researcher. It was empowering for her to take on the responsibility and do things she had worked so hard to learn without training wheels.

“Also, I grew in realizing the beauty of neuroscience research,” she remarked. “You can’t help patients without doing the fundamental academic research first. It was great to see that, and I hope to pursue a career in neuroscience once I graduate.”

Among the undergraduates at Berkeley who have a multitude of opportunities to get involved in innovative research across campus, students in the SURF program are undertaking research projects of their own design and further growing competencies in their fields as independent researchers. Opportunities like SURF are the backbone of support for these students, marking the transition from apprenticeship to independence through newfound responsibilities and expertise. From navigating the challenges of time management, communication, and coordination to contributing new insights to their fields, these students have had the chance to take ownership of their work and deepen their passion. As students continue to have the opportunity to work in labs and receive support in conducting research, a new generation of science and medicine is sure to thrive.

You can’t help patients without doing the fundamental academic research first.

Anna Jacobowitz

Topics

Biological Sciences topic page, Research & Innovation topic page, Students topic page, Undergraduate Studies topic page