HONORS SELF- DESIGNED PROPOSAL

Basic Information
Full Name: Andrew (Scott) Emmert
UC Email: emmertas@mail.uc.edu
College: College of Medicine
Major: Medical Sciences
Title of Project: Biomedical Research and Mentoring Program
Thematic Area(s): Research
Expected Start Date: January 12, 2016
Expected End Date: April 28, 2016
1. Abstract
From approximately January 12, 2016 to April 28, 2016, I will participate in the Biomedical Research and
Mentoring Program (Biomedical RaMP) through the University Honors Program. Through Biomedical RaMP, I
will be working in the lab of Dr. Michael Jordan, MD, in the division of Bone Marrow Transplantation &
Immune Deficiency in Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center to study the feedback regulation of
immune responses, a matter of life and death in pediatric patients suffering from the various disorders
associated with the malfunctioning of these systems. Like a finely tuned engine, the immune system is regulated
by feedback loops which prevent fatal 'revving' of the immune engine. One critical loop that Dr. Jordans lab
has defined involves feedback killing of antigen-presenting dendritic cells by CD8+ T cells. When this loop is
missing, a fatal human regulatory disorder, called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) develops. Using
a mouse model of HLH, Dr. Jordan and his lab are developing methods to define exactly which cells are
participating in this loopthis is where I will help to further develop this project. In the lab, with the help of my
mentor and principal investigator Dr. Jordan, I will contribute towards the Jordan labs furthering of the
understanding of spatiotemporal kinetics and how this regulatory process normally occurs. I will analyze initial
studies focused on defining which T cells and dendritic cells participate and where this occurs in lymphoid
tissues. I will learn learn about modeling human diseases in mice, how to profile immune cells via flow
cytometry, and will help to develop creative methods that aid in defining the function of these cells.
My experience with the Biomedical Research and Mentoring Program will be personally meaningful as a result
of the exposure to bench research and various laboratory techniques, my development of the critical thinking
and reasoning skills unique to conducting research, and the exploration of my interest in pediatric medicine
through spending 8-12 hours a week in one of the best pediatric hospitals in the world. First of all, the
invaluable exposure to biomedical research that this program provides is necessary for my growth as a premedical student and medical school applicant. The interdisciplinary nature of medicine is evolving at an
exponential rate, so knowledge of this aspect of medical science is crucial to becoming a holistic student. Also, I
have no prior research experience, so I am looking forward to learning about basic lab techniques, the lab
environment, and developing the critical thinking skills associated with tasks like reading scientific literature.
Perhaps I may even discover that research is my passion and that I want to pursue an MD/PhD degree to
become a biomedical researcher. Even if I find that research is not the career path I want to take, I will gain
much experience learning about the research environment, the people doing research, and how it might connect
to a clinical setting in which I will work. Finally, I am extremely excited to continue exploring my interest in
pediatric medicine through the world-class facilities of Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center. This past
summer, I coordinated the swim lesson program and developed the swim curriculum for SwimSafe Pool
Managements Swim School, which involved interacting with parents and children on a daily basis for eight
weeks. I absolutely loved teaching the children about proper swim stroke and water safety, and I believe this
fantastic experience directly correlated with the pediatric population whom I was teaching.

I hope to work in the lab eight to twelve hours a week for fifteen weeks in the semester, adding up to around
150 hours total for this semester. With my time, I will be working in the laboratory to try to learn about the lab
environment, how research is conducted, how to read and write scientific literature, and to gain general research
experience. I will most likely be working on Tuesdays in the lab for an extended period of time because I have
scheduled only one afternoon class for that day of the week, as well as on Thursdays due to a MEDS course I
have at the College of Medicine. This will allow me to gain a full, enriched, integrated experience in the lab
instead of spending two hours in the lab at a time.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Brief description of the experience

Personal connection to the experience
Identified goals for the experience
Timeline from start to finish
*Itinerary (international experiences only)
**Explanation of differentiated experience
from what is required of other students

2. Experience Advisor
Dr. Michael Jordan, MD
Division of Bone Marrow Transplantation & Immune Deficiency
michael.jordan@cchmc.org
Dr. Jordan will be my mentor and principal investigator for this research experience. He will be the one to guide
and train me in the lab as well as help me find other medical opportunities to enrich my undergraduate
experience. I will also be working with Dr. Vandana Chaturvedi, PhD, to improve upon the wide variety of
creative and effective techniques that are utilized in Dr. Jordans lab. I chose Dr. Jordan because he is not only
an extremely well-respected researcher, but also a medical doctor and clinician that presents and speaks
internationally on his groundbreaking work serving the pediatric population. I will utilize Dr. Jordan and Dr.
Chaturvedi as resources that can explain the career and work-life balance discrepancies between a medical
doctor, a clinician that spends the majority of his professional career in the lab, and a biomedical researcher.
Likewise, they are great resources for finding other opportunities for experiential learning in medicine.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Experience advisor name and contact

information
Description of why advisor was selected
Specific plans to engage with advisor

3. Connection to Learning Outcomes

Effective:

1. Research: Demonstrate the ability to locate, interpret, and critically evaluate primary sources
appropriate to field.
a. In order to best position myself to contribute to the Jordan labs goal of furthering the
understanding of spatiotemporal kinetics and how this regulatory process normally occurs, I will
independently locate, read, and analyze research journals and other primary sources on similar
research to enrich my knowledge on the method by which scientific papers are published and
how the practicalities of biomedical research are manifested. This will also help me see how
abstracts, procedures, results, analyses of data, and conclusions are translated into published
journals. Though the reading and digesting of such high-caliber biomedical knowledge will
certainly prove taxing on top of my normal schoolwork, the invaluable familiarization with
evaluating primary sources relevant to different research topics will allow me to better market
myself as a medical school applicant and overall critical thinker. I will find papers on my own
and also read anything that Dr. Jordan or Dr. Chaturvedi give me. Additionally, I will also learn
how to develop creative methods to define perplexing areas of biomedical inquiry, such as
defining the function of immune cells. This knowledge will help me greatly in modeling the
HLH disease in mice. I will spend approximately 25 hours engrossed in the topic of learning
from primary sources in the field of feedback responses, bone marrow transplant, and
immunobiology.
2. Research: Identify and apply appropriate methods to collect and organize data for analysis.
a. In the lab, some of my main responsibilities will include learning a wide variety of lab
techniques like mouse genotyping, Western blotting, profiling immune cells via flow cytometry,
PCR, gel electrophoresis, and tissue culturing. These techniques will definitely prepare me to
apply appropriate methods to collect and organize data for analysis because performing these
techniques will help Dr. Jordan, Dr. Chaturvedi, and the other members of the lab obtain results
on exactly which cells are participating in the loop involving feedback killing of antigenpresenting dendritic cells by CD8+ T cells. Learning and performing these techniques in the lab
will comprise the majority of the time I dedicate to the Biomedical Research and Mentoring
Program this spring. As such, my fulfillment of this learning outcome will involve approximately
100 hours of the total time spent completing this honors experience.
3. Research: Articulate the broader significance of the research project and its relationship to other fields,
research and ideas.
a. Though Dr. Jordans enunciated goal is to further the understanding of spatiotemporal kinetics
and how malfunctioning of the aforementioned feedback regulation normally occurs and
contributes to the development of HLH, his research project and the countless hours I plan to
contribute towards the labs reaching of this goal go far beyond the CCHMC division of Bone
Marrow Transplantation & Immune Deficiency. The broader significance of this research project
is to improve the overall quality of life for pediatric patients across the globe by actively working
to better the biomedical understanding of feedback regulation and immune responses. By the end
of my time in Dr. Jordans lab, I hope to have a substantial grasp on the operations of a
biomedical research lab, the various experimental techniques used in such a lab, how to model
diseases like HLH in mice, and an overall better understanding of the medical basis of feedback
regulation of immune responses. I hope to apply these newly developed critical thinking and
reasoning skills to my coursework, campus activities, and foreign situations, and I will reflect
upon this newly acquired knowledge by keeping a record of the experiences I undergo in the
Jordan lab in the form of a research journal. Fulfilling this learning outcome of my honors
experience will involve approximately 25 hours of reflection and pre-planned application.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
3 learning outcomes explicitly identified
from any thematic area(s)

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Examples of activities and explanation of

how each will assist the progress towards
the chosen learning outcome
Estimated time commitment for each
activity

4. Academic Resources Connected to the Learning Outcomes

Though much of what I will learn and experience in Dr. Jordans lab is not left to my discretion, there are
certain steps I will take to ensure that my partaking in Biomedical RaMP is as valuable an opportunity for
growth as possible. I plan to dedicate approximately 25 hours to finding and analyzing primary sources in the
field of feedback responses, bone marrow transplant, and immunobiology. When I initially read over the
descriptions of the various research projects on the Biomedical RaMP site, I was attracted to glamorous medical
fields such as cardiology and neurosurgery, not genuinely appreciating the division of Bone Marrow
Transplantation & Immune Deficiency. After listening to Dr. Jordans presentation on his research at the Meet &
Greet, I performed a simple Google search on his field of research and the Jordans lab work in particular to
gain a rudimentary understanding of his labs focus. With further investigation of such resources, I will be able
to gain some base knowledge of feedback regulation and immune responses to give myself a head start in
comprehending the greater meaning of the research in the lab. Although I will most likely spend the majority of
my time performing tasks like Western blotting and flow cytometry, I will be able to more easily connect these
seemingly rudimentary tasks to the impact that the research has on the scientific community and pediatric
population overall. First, I will use the Cincinnati Childrens Hospitals online HLH Center of Excellence to
learn about the general symptoms and diagnoses characteristic of the disease, the genetic conditions that cause
HLH, and the course of treatment for patients suffering from HLH. Though this online resource does not
directly apply to the laboratory techniques and mouse models I will be utilizing in the lab, the greater context of
this life-threatening conditions and how it affects the patients seeking treatment at CCHMC is paramount to my
success in the lab (http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/service/h/hlh/about/). Another resource that will prove
extremely beneficial in fulfilling my learning outcomes for this honors experience is a video overviewing HLH
from the perspective of my mentor and PI, Dr. Michael Jordan. This video, posted on YouTube by the
Histiocytosis Association, provides an extremely informative overview of the symptoms of HLH, its diagnosis,
and the treatment necessary to mitigate its harmful effects (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=bbGzCTm2nXQ). More importantly, Dr. Jordan is the medical professional leading the discussion in the
video. These two resources, both of which are personally linked to the lab in which I will be conducting
research next semester, are tremendous academic resources for fulfilling the learning outcome of articulating the
broader significance of the research project as it relates to alleviating the suffering of those children afflicted
with HLH.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
1-2 academic resources connected to the
learning outcomes
Title and author of each resource
Description of how resources will help
make progress towards learning outcomes
and execution of experience

5. On-going Reflection

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Throughout my experience, I will keep a lab journal that includes both a factual section for recording
experimental techniques and major developments in my research and a reflective section for detailing the selfgrowth I anticipate undergoing through Biomedical RaMP. I will record additional thoughts in this journal to
promote deeper on-going reflection beyond traditional records of lab protocol and experimental progress. In the
first half of my lab journal, I will record my lab protocols daily, writing down everything I performed in the lab
each day to be able to go over each point with my mentor/PI to possibly improve upon techniques that I
performed incorrectly or inadequately. Like any other three-credit-hour course, I will study this protocol daily to
ensure that I waste neither my mentors time or my own. Additionally, I will record academic questions in this
journal that I think of during the day to ask my PI/mentor later. However, the more challenging portion of my
reflection will occur in the second half of my journal, in which I will write about the lab environment itself and
what non-academic topics I learned in relation to my personal and professional development. For example, if I
talk to a researcher or physician I have never encountered before, I will write down what I talked about, his/her
contact information, and how I may network with them in the future. Likewise, if I learn an aspect of how to
operate in the lab environment socially, whether that is how to properly ask my PI a question or act around other
researchers, I will reflect upon this knowledge in my journal. These topics in my lab journal will help me reflect
both academically and non-academically to gain the most out of my honors experience.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Method for ongoing reflection

Reflection questions/topics clearly
specified

6. Sharing Your Learning

In order to effectively share the knowledge I will acquire through working in Dr. Jordans lab, I will talk about
my experience through Biomedical RaMP at St. Xavier High School through the biannual Health Careers
Seminar course. This supplemental, evening course is composed of about twenty-five junior and senior students
that desire to learn about the various career options available in the health field, from physicians to researchers
to occupational therapists. Many of them, like myself when I was a student in this course last fall, do not have
research experience, do not know how to get involved with research, or are absolutely terrified by the
intimidating nature of biomedical research. Because of my experience in Dr. Jordans lab at Cincinnati
Childrens, I will be able to share what to expect in the laboratory environment as a first time student and how
to pursue research grants and summer opportunities in the future. I will investigate research options for high
school students in the Cincinnati area, specifically through UCCoM and CCHMC, and present to them how to
get involved and tips on how to obtain a position in a lab. If these students choose to pursue these opportunities
to get involved with biomedical research while still in high school, they will possess an enormous edge on the
competition when applying for undergraduate programs like the Medical Sciences major or Connections Dual
Admissions BS/MD program. Additionally, sharing my experience will allow me to more fully reflect on what
the important parts of my research experience were, what I learned, and how I can use that information to help
others and prepare myself for more research in the future.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
At least one method to actively share takeaways/learning from the experience
A specific audience and why the audience
was selected

Required Revisions:

Effective:

7. Budget (if applicable)

Hours to be worked: 150 (10 hours per week for 15 weeks of the Spring 2016 term.) See abstract for breakdown
of the amount of time I plan to spend on this honors experience.
Advisor Feedback
Notes:
Detailed budget of expenditures with
sources to justify budget estimates
*Indicates the number of hours per week
and number of weeks of participation

Required Revisions:

Effective: