This project is part of the Pakula Biomedical Fellowship Program.

In the past two decades, deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become a widely used therapeutic option for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders. As experimental investigations of DBS mechanisms or the development of new protocols are prohibited on humans or are too costly to be performed on non-human primates, computational models are necessary to advance to clinical applications in humans. Students will learn how we design neural network models to simulate not only the parkinsonian state but also how to evaluate the efficacy of different DBS protocols. In particular, students will be exposed to adaptive stimulation protocols and will carry out simulations and analyses to identify possible therapeutic windows of treatments. These simulations will also study the effectiveness of adaptive protocols compared to the conventional treatment, which applies a stream of high-frequency pulses.

• Focus Areas: Math
• Project Duration: 8 weeks (June 6-July 29)
• Prerequisite Courses: Math 190: Differential Equations
• Preferred Courses: none
• Number of Student Positions: 2

Principal Investigator

Details and Application

This project is part of the Pakula Biomedical Fellowship Program.

Current biomedical research is continuing to explore how our microbiome impacts varied aspects of our health. In this study, we will be exploring the connection between the oral microbiome and pathogenic bacteria in human remains that come from an archaeological context. One question we will be attempting to answer is whether a normal microbiome within the dental calculus is statistically related to whether or not the individual has a pathogen present. This can aid biomedical research by furthering the understanding of how our oral microbiome interacts with potential pathogens. This project will involve extracting DNA and preparing samples for DNA sequencing and may require some travel to and from Milwaukee together.

• Focus Areas: Biology
• Project Duration: 8 weeks (June 6-July29)
• Prerequisite Courses: BIOL 208: Microbiology and BIOL 289: Genetics
• Preferred Courses: ANTH 230: Human osteology
• Number of Student Positions: 1

Principal Investigator

Details and Application

This project is part of the Pakula Biomedical Fellowship Program.

Molecular chaperones are a group of proteins that help cells respond to stress. While they can be extremely useful in the human body, bacteria also use chaperones to survive under stressful conditions, such as high or low temperatures, or the presence of antibiotic treatments. Given the role of chaperones in responding to cellular stress, inhibition of these chaperones represents a new strategy to slow bacterial growth and treat infections.

Recently, studies have identified important functions of a physical interaction between two types of chaperones, Hsp70s and J-domain proteins. However, these insights from human chaperones have yet to be explored in bacterial chaperones. In this project, students will use protein biochemistry to study the molecular details of a pair of E. coli chaperones. Understanding these molecular details is an important first step before drug-like molecules can be developed! Students will gain skills in protein purification, structure-guided hypothesis generation, and binding assays.

• Project Duration: 8 weeks (June 6-July 29)
• Prerequisite Courses: CHEM 117: Chemistry
• Preferred Courses: none
• Number of Student Positions: 2

Principal Investigator

Details and Application