This summer, nine students from Yeshiva University—Jacqueline Benayoun, Adi Cohen, Hadassa Holzapfel, Shira Kaye, Esther Kazlow, Tamar Ariella Lunzer, Bracha Robinson, Natan Tracer and Liat Weinstock—participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The program serves as an advanced biomedical research curriculum that spans fields ranging from neuroscience to immunology to biochemistry. These students, along with 35 others from various colleges and universities, engaged in cutting edge scientific studies and received hands-on research experience in areas normally reserved for graduate-level work. The program is directed by Dr. Victoria Freedman, Einstein’s associate dean for graduate programs in the biomedical sciences, and Dr. Barry Potvin, professor of biology at Yeshiva College and visiting professor in the cell biology department at Einstein.
The program sought to expose students to biomedical research in the hopes that they will one day pursue a PhD or a joint M.D./Ph.D. degree. By providing students with on campus-housing and a stipend, participants were able to completely delve into their laboratory work while also spending time on the medical school campus.
For Stern Biology major and English Literature minor Shira Kaye, the program was both educational and eye-opening. Kaye worked in Dr. Wei-Li Liu’s lab in the department of Anatomy and Structural Biology studying p53, the tumor-suppressor protein, which is mutated in about 50% of all cancers. According to Kaye, “It was fascinating to research unknown mechanisms and structures of proteins and genes that may be crucial to keeping our cells cancer-free.”
For Kaye, a Bergenfield, New Jersey native and aspiring Neurologist or Pediatrician, she believes that in addition to learning useful lab techniques, she has further developed “the thought-process that is crucial to the medical research field.” Her work on exploring whether p53 binds the transcription factor RNA Polymerase II, and working to establish a structure of the p53/RNA Polymerase II complex, helped elucidate a crucial step in cell cycle regulation. “My favorite part of the program has been that there is so much more the scientific world has yet to learn, and recognizing that however small it may be, I am contributing to that process.”
Eight of the students on the program were awarded scholarships through the Roth Institute Scholars Program, funded by the Ernst and Hedwig Roth Institute of Biomedical Science Education at YU. Tamar Ariella Lunzer, a Stern student entering her junior year and majoring in Biology with a Psychology minor, was funded by the Stern Einstein Research Connection Program—a fund established by Stern alumnae at Einstein. This summer allowed Lunzer to gain a thorough appreciation for scientific research: she studied the effect of increased serum cholesterol levels on the pathogenesis of Chagas disease under Dr. Louis Weiss. Lunzer performed western blots and PCR as well as mouse models for her project.
The program was especially fascinating for Lunzer because it exposed her to a new area of science and medicine—global health. “It was incredible to be part of a lab comprised of students and staff from different countries and continents studying a disease endemic in a different part of the world—South America. It was exciting knowing that any discoveries made would have a real and significant impact on what is becoming a global issue. In recent years Chagas disease has been spread through travel and immigration and accounts for thousands of deaths each year.”
Furthermore, spending a summer at a research-intensive institution was a source of pride for Lunzer and her fellow YU undergrads that served as “ambassadors” for YU, so to speak. Lunzer believes that the YU students left a respectable impression and represented Orthodox Jews decently to fellow students and staff. She is grateful for having had the opportunity to participate in such an impactful experience and to gain greater exposure to science research.