About
Congratulations to Carroll graduate Michael Henderson of Eugene, OR, for having his research published in the November 2020 issue of Science Advances, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) open access multidisciplinary journal. His contribution to the research on novel gene therapy for Cystic Fibrosis patients was made possible through Oregon Health & Science University's 2019 Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology (CDCB) Summer Research Internship Program. This is a significant accomplishment as it is rare for an undergraduate to be published. Following is Michael’s description of his research experience.
"On the 18th of November 2020, I received authorship in my first research publication. The research article in Science Advances was pertaining to studies toward novel gene therapy for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients.
To be a part of this crucial research, I was an intern at Oregon Health & Science University’s (OHSU) Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology (CDCB) 2019 Internship Program. The principal investigator I worked under was Gaurav Sahay, Ph.D., who is an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University (OSU) and OHSU. When assigned to the Sahay laboratory, I was tasked with exploring the intracellular drug delivery to treat CF with direct mentorship under Anindit Mukherjee, Ph.D. Through standardizing analysis of SDS western blot(s), cell culture, electrophysiological experiments, and generation of figures for the paper, I was able to attain authorship with 500+ hours in the lab.
I was proud to represent Carroll College at such a prestigious internship program with students from larger institutions such as the University of Notre Dame, Cornell University, and Pomona College. Our paper’s review took approximately seven months after submission and it marks only the beginning of my pursuit in exploring the duality of benchtop to bedside research."
Michael's latest accomplishment is that he will be presenting his research at the 2021 virtual National Council on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) conference.
Carroll College faculty and staff have graciously supported my research opportunity at Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) through the Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology (CDCB) Internship,” said Henderson. “Representing Carroll College with an oral presentation at the 2021 NCUR conference will conclude my undergraduate research career. After graduating from Carroll College with a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, I will be returning to CDCB Department at OHSU. As a return CDCB intern, I will rejoin the Sahay Lab to continue advancing research in gene therapeutics for Cystic Fibrosis. In parallel with summer research, I will be submitting medical school applications and taking the MCAT. Undergraduate biomedical research has taught me that the development of advanced therapeutics from benchtop to patient bedside is possible through the success of a collaborative effort.