Researching!

Hi again!

So, I have a few minutes while waiting for a gel electrophoresis and an ethanol precipitation to write this post.

Like I said in a prior post, I am researching at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta! It's been really awesome so far. Last week, I had to give a powerpoint presentation to our lab group about my project that I researching this summer. It was very nerve-wrecking, but my mentor told me a did good job, so that made it worth it!

For my first part of my research, I am verifying a series of mutations found in patients with IHH/KS. So, I've been looking at a lot of chromatograms, identifying the single base mutations and designing primers so that I can repeat PCR and sequencing to make sure that these mutations are really there! I finally got a hughe shipment of primers this week! I've been working with them, making sure I have the proper controls with a series of controls we have in the lab.

The second part of my project has to do with NELF knockdown. A knockdown is when you, in effect, "knockdown" the representation of that gene, as though it was not there. You can knockdown genes with miRNA. My mentor is working on the knockdown. After we get a confirmed knockdown of NELF, I shall be observing the effects of downstream genes. This is to see if NELF is a transcription factor that hinders or aides the transcription of certain genes.

Well, my ethanol precipitation is almost done. I should get back to it and start the sequencing reaction!

Peace and love,
Lizzy

Orientation's Great!

Orientation planning has already begun and our orientation leaders (PALS) are so excited to meet you all! Please visit the orientation website for details about the orientation schedule and more!

Make sure you have checked out our Deposited Student Handbook online for all the forms and more information you will need before you arrive on campus in August!

The Adventures have begun!

Hey everyone, this is Julie!

So summer has been AMAZING so far! Finals week was insane for me, but this summer has definitely made up for it! After spending only a week at home, I went to Cozumel, Mexico with a bunch of Oxfordians for scuba diving. Several former Oxford students, a current Oxford student, and the scuba diving instructors and swim coach from Oxford all were part of our group. We did more than 15 dives on the trip and most of us got higher certifications, it was incredible! We even got to do a wreck dive where we penetrated the ship and got to see the engine room and even the bathroom (seeing toilets underwater is a little surreal!). The diving there was insane, the water was perfectly clear, you could see straight to the bottom from the boat which in some places was more than 80 feet deep, and it looked no deeper than 3 feet! I'll post some pictures some of the other students took at the end of the post, but some of the girls literally took THOUSANDS of pictures .... sooo I can only post a few! :x

After a week in Cozumel, I went back home to Chicago for another week before heading back down to Atlanta. Currently I'm doing research at Emory's Atlanta Campus with Dr. Armelagos as part of the SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research Experience) program. SURE offers pairing students with mentors in labs (or, such as in my case, students who have already found a mentor to work with, submitting a research proposal for a project to work on developed by the student and mentor) to work full time over the summer and recieve a stipend and housing for the summer. At the end of the project, we all have to present posters on our research. I'm working in the Anthropology bone lab with human ribs from the Kulubnarti site in Africa. These bones are over 2000 years old and I will be making thin sections of them in order to look for tetracycline labeling under a UV microscope. What's really cool about this project is that tetracycline is an antibiotic, which had not been discovered until more than 1500 years after when these people had lived. The antibiotic then must have been part of their diet and so if labeling is found, it shows that tetracyline had been ingested, and then we can try and determine how the antibiotic got into their diets and how it effected their culture (since it would have affected death rates and sperm count, so that in turn would influence the culture, such as the age of marriage). I really REALLY enjoy learning about how biology and culture influence each other, and I find it fascinating how you can learn about these through ancient bones!

On Tuesday however, I am leaving to go back to Jordan for 4 weeks! Last summer I went to Jordan with Oxford Professor, Dr. Aaron Stutz, to look for excavation sites, and this summer I will be returning with him and a small team to do test excavations! We are going to do basically a mini archaeological dig at what appears to be a middle and upper Paleolithic site to see if it is indeed an archaeological site on which it would be worth doing a full excavation. I am so excited it has even been hard for me to sleep sometimes just thinking about it! Once that trip is over however, I will be back here at Emory to finish out my SURE project for the rest of the summer. I really hope we find something incredible while in Jordan. Keep your fingers crossed and wish me dead people and enough water for showers!

- Julie

Pictures taken by former Oxford Students Collette McLeroy and Lillian Fineman, and current Oxford Student Meredith 'Mimi' Hacking.

Hey everyone!

I can hardly believe that we are three weeks into summer! I have been having a great time as an intern in the Ethics and Servant Leadership (EASL) program. For the past two weeks, I have been working full time at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Decatur. I work there Monday through Thursday and then meet with the other interns in EASL class on Friday. There are about 25 people in the program, and we each work at a different nonprofit during the week and then meet together for discussion and lunch on Friday. During class, we talk about issues such as how ethics applies to the working world, what a nonprofit organization is, and how ethics and nonprofits go hand in hand. The course is run by Dr. Edward Queen, [Ph.D., J.D.], who manages the Ethics minor and teaches both Religion and Ethics at Emory. He is really fun to talk with and has done some pretty incredible things with his life, including traveling all over the world and serving on different ethics committees.

My favorite thing about working at the IRC so far is the diversity that is found there; many of the case managers, case aids, and other workers were once refugees themselves. I eat lunch everyday with Parveneh, a Case Manager from Iran, and Nodira, a Case Manager from Uzbekistan. I also enjoy the company of Asha, from Somalia, and Beatrice, who is from Northern Africa. Beatrice and Asha are both Case Managers as well and are a lot of fun; I enjoy speaking French with Beatrice, and since I am a double major in Women's Studies and French, it's very good practice for me.

At the IRC, I work in the Resettlement Services department with the Health Specialist, Mark Greenberg. Mark helps all of the new families who come in apply for Medicaid. He assigns them doctors, helps them fill out necessary paperwork, makes MARTA maps for them to travel from their home to the doctor's office, and makes appointments for them. Working with Mark is a lot of fun, but I am also looking forward to getting to meet some of the refugees first hand. The IRC is a very large nonprofit organization; they have offices in over twenty U.S. cities (with the world headquarters in New York) and in six continents. The organization was started in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, who was a refugee himself. You can check out more about the IRC by looking at their website, http://www.theirc.org/us-program/us-atlanta-ga. Thanks for checking this out! I look forward to hearing from you! Please feel free to email me or comment with any questions.

Have a great summer!

Hannah Rogers
Oxford College Graduate (2010)
Emory College Class of 2012
Women's Studies and French Major
Bobbie Patterson Fellowship Recipient
Ethics and Servant Leadership Intern
Oxford and Emory Scholar
haroger@emory.edu

Summer at MCG!

Hello summer readers!

It's Lizzy again and it's summertime! So exciting!

This summer, I am taking part in an undergraduate research program at Medical College of Georgia is Augusta! I have finished my first week (of nine) and I am having a great time. There are 25 students in the program. 14 of the students are from the Augusta area and the rest of us are from all over. The 11 non-Augusta people are living in the dorms on campus. So, I'm working in a lab helping my mentor with his research on NELF and it's role in IHH/KS (a puberty disorder). I'll be confirming the mutations in certain genes in patients who have the disorder. And when I'm not in lab, we have workshops for all the STAR participants. Also, all the dorm people chill and hang out.

Anyways, at the end of the program, I have to put together a poster presentation.

Well, back to researching. Look back for more updates!

Peace and love,
Lizzy

Summertime :)

Summer time is here, and I am really enjoying relaxing (aka sleeping late, manicure/pedicure, friends, cookouts, chillin), but it is almost time for me to pack my bags and head to the Twin Cities. I am doing research this summer at the University of Minnesota. It's the farthest I've lived away from home, but I am VERY excited to get started with research. I'll be researching signalling in the immune system in regard to the action of t lymphocytes (sorry if you are reading this and are like blah I hate science:).

Anyway, I miss Oxford so very much. But it's not necessarily the campus that makes Oxford the amazing place that it is. I couldn't join them, but a group of my friends got together for dinner this week and played frisbee. I saw facebook pictures of course and it made me sooooo happy to see that we are going to be able to hold onto those friendships we make at Oxford. I just got a webcam and skype (yeah I know I'm a little behind), so now I can see my school pals all summer!!!!

I can't wait to meet the freshman class!! Looking forward to an AWESOME sophomore year, but enjoying my summer so far :)

tootles

Getting excited for the new class!

Hey everybody! So May 1st was the deadline to make your deposit and we are pleased to report we have a great full class! We are so excited about our new "Oxfordians" and can't wait for them to arrive in the fall. This class is truly an amazing one and I'm sure they will greatly contribute to the Oxford community. Move-in day will be August 18th and orientation will be from August 19-26. Don't forget to join our "Oxford College of 2014" facebook group and check out our deposited student handbook for more information about housing and health services, and make sure you check out Learnlink- your Emory e-mail address system!

The students are buried under their books as they are finishing with finals and the summer dreaming ensues.Also we will greatly miss the sophomore class since they have played an integral role in leading this campus. Commencement is this Saturday and we are so proud of the sophomores who we know will move on to the Atlanta campus and accomplish great things. I hope everyone enjoys their summer!