一张一张幻灯片:正规澳门赌场网络本科生加入治疗阿尔茨海默氏症的持久探索
作者:Zach Brockhouse
Deep within the Pickus Center for Biomedical 研究, Jayden Lovely (Medical Biology, ’26) points to a cluttered desk surrounded by vial-filled shelves. “A lot of my research is done right here,” she said. Set against the trees on UNE’s campus in Biddeford, 研究大楼容纳了一些大学最具创新性的生物医学研究. 在这里，可爱, 即将升学的二年级学生, 正在进行对阿尔茨海默病有切实意义的研究.
在另一个房间, 她使用一种称为低温恒温器的机器来切片样品并染色，以突出她的研究重点, CD2AP蛋白. She examines the results in UNE’s new Olympus Slide Viewer. “I look for the differences and record them,” she said. “如果一切按计划进行, 我可能会为治疗阿尔茨海默氏症的重大突破做出直接贡献.”
洛夫利正在攻读UNE医学生物学学士学位课程的医师助理预科(PA)课程, 哪些课程使学生具备在毕业后继续从事医师助理研究生学习所需的技能. 为她, 该州唯一的私人助理项目符合她的愿望，即在不受医学学位的同一时间表限制的情况下，追求多种兴趣. She found her niche as a member of the Pre-Physician’s Assistant Club, but felt she still wanted more.
当一个俱乐部的成员提到有研究的机会提供给学生, 可爱，振作起来. It was exactly what she had been looking for. 她很快发了一封电子邮件表明了自己的兴趣，并与麦迪逊·默斯配对, 他是缅因大学本杰明·哈里森实验室的博士生, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and nutrition at UNE, who studies how pain signals are received by the body.
洛夫丽很快就发现自己沉浸在哈里森的实验室里，从事一个具有现实应用的现实研究项目.
A Budding 研究er Learns the Ropes
Lovely’s initial lab work wasn’t even related to Alzheimer’s. 是正规澳门赌场网络痛苦的.
In 2022, Harrison received $1.800万美元的资金来自国家神经疾病和中风研究所, a division of the National Institutes of 健康, to explore non-opioid treatments for chronic pain at the cellular level. 他正在利用五年的拨款研究如何减少伤害感受器的放电, 哪些神经元在疼痛损伤时传递疼痛信号. 他的重点是寻找非麻醉的方法来阻止疼痛在我们体内的处理.
哈里森和他的团队发现，伤害感受器含有一种名为CELF4的蛋白质,他们认为这是一种RNA结合蛋白，可以抑制“促伤害”的产生,” or pro-pain-sensing cellular components. In essence, they are trying to trick the proteins to limit pain signals. His research focuses on delivering CELF4 into pain neurons, where the protein will limit the synthesis of ion channels, 受体, and other molecules that sensitize them.
“工作博士。. Harrison had done was astounding — and intimidating. At first, I wasn’t sure of myself. I’d attended lab meetings before, 但听到行话和看到在这种环境中使用的工具似乎完全不同,可爱的说.
她补充说:“我正在正规澳门赌场网络进行一段旅程，这是整个过程的一部分。. “There is so much that goes into a research project. And there is so much knowledge around from the people I get to work with. It’s taking me a while to wrap my head around everything, but I learn something new every time I walk into the lab.“和默思一起工作, Lovely began to learn histology, the study of the microscopic structure of tissues. 在一起, they aided Harrison with his research, 具体地说, 研究局部注射腺相关病毒是否能刺激CELF4的产生并减轻这些区域的疼痛——一种被称为基因载体疗法的方法.
“Using this novel gene vector therapy approach, 我们可以开发出比传统阿片类药物风险更小的疼痛疗法, 比如上瘾,哈里森说.
“这项研究可能对那些患有慢性疼痛但不想接受手术的人有益，因为手术可能很昂贵，而且根本没有感觉。,可爱的补充道.
Federal 研究 Powerhouse Unlocks New Funds
从疼痛研究到阿尔茨海默氏症的飞跃发生在哈里森得知杰克逊实验室的一项新研究计划之后, a nonprofit biomedical research institution in Bar Harbor, several hours north of UNE’s Biddeford Campus. 该项目涉及CD2AP蛋白及其变异如何导致阿尔茨海默病. 看到了他研究中的相似之处阻断了蛋白质中的疼痛信号, 他认为洛夫里很适合研究为什么阿尔茨海默病患者的一些蛋白质实际上停止接收信息.
“没有多少学校允许学生有机会参与到这个层次, coming here and jumping right in during their freshman year,哈里森说. 当她毕业时，杰登将对科学过程有更深刻的理解. Very different than another school.”
卡耐基机密R2 High 研究 Activity Institution
41%的正规澳门赌场网络毕业生 他们都参与了 研究项目, compared to 23% nationally
NIH资助400万美元 in 2022, more than any other college or university in 缅因州
Lovely很好奇. 她说，疼痛和阿尔茨海默病研究之间的共性令人放心. “I felt like I had a good foundation to move forward from,” she said. But there was one problem — funding. 她和哈里森开始了每一个伟大的研究人员都必须经历的旅程——写拨款申请. Luckily, they were in good company. In 2022, 国家卫生研究院为缅因州的经济活动增加了2.64亿美元.根据联邦政府提供的数据，拨款和合同金额为700万美元. 正规澳门赌场网络获得了7笔赠款，总额超过400万美元，比缅因州其他任何学院或大学都多.
“Dr. Harrison guided me through every step of the process. It was a little overwhelming, 但我们挺过来了, 今年早些时候, I learned that our grant had been awarded.可爱的说, noting that the Kahn Family Foundation paid for her summer housing, 提供1美元,用于研究资料, and awarded her a small stipend.
很快, tissue samples were shipped down to Biddeford to the Pickus Center’s 22,000 square feet of state-of-the-art research space, where Lovely could begin her work.
在她的项目中, 洛夫里在老鼠大脑中提取了一种CD2AP变体，并将其与两种正常的进行了比较, “野生型”大脑. 多项研究表明，CD2AP基因的变化与阿尔茨海默病的进展有关. 洛夫里正着手证明，携带这种基因变异的老鼠体内的CD2AP蛋白发生了变化，这种变化可以用来模拟变性.
While the research is ongoing, 洛夫里知道，早在大一的时候就有机会了解研究的来龙去脉，这让她对研究的世界大开眼界，也让她明白，下一个重大突破离被发现只有一步之遥.
“UNE does an amazing job to get the word out about 研究项目. The lab takes in students all the time,可爱的说. “There are lots of students on campus who want to be involved. 想想校园实验室里的每个人现在都能做出真正的改变，这是令人兴奋的. I’m glad to be part of it all.”