Introduction

Hello fellow student bloggers and internet users! Welcome to my blog!

My name is Pooja Venugopal and I am a senior at BASIS Scottsdale.

The third trimester of our senior year at BASIS, we are given the opportunity to pursue a senior research project on a topic of our choice. This project allows us to conduct research in different settings- whether a lab, a hospital, a classroom, or even a law office.

For my project, I will be interning in a research lab that I have worked in the past year at the Center for Rare Childhood Diseases (C4RCD) in the Translational Genomics Research Institute, also known as TGEN. (A link to C4RCD  & TGEN's website will be attached at the bottom of this post.) Under the guidance of Sampath Rangasamy, I will learn more about the pathogenesis of Rett Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a mutation in a single gene: MECP2. During this project, I will study the cells grown in the lab and mice models in order to understand the biology of the disease.  I will collect DNA samples from mice through tail cuts, upload these samples into a PCR Machine, which will replicate the DNA hundreds of times, and conduct a gel electrophoresis which will help me identify the mutant mice  and the normal mice (Wild Type) as well as compare the two models. This research will also lead to behavioral studies. The main hurdle doctors/researchers are facing now is that they are able to diagnose a patient with Rett syndrome but are unable to find a cure. 

Starting on February 8^th, I will be working in the lab 5-6 days a week for almost 8 hours every day. Most days I will visit the Center for Rare Childhood Diseases (C4RCD) and study the neurogenetics of classical versus atypical Rett Syndrome. 
 

I couldn't be more excited to continue my research and learn more about this disease!

Until next time,

Pooja Venugopal

https://www.tgen.org/home/research.aspx#.VqGnbZOAOko