缅北强奸

My name is Melody Zhou, and I am entering my fourth and last year at 缅北强奸 in the Faculty of Arts and Science. I am majoring in Cognitive Science with a stream in Neuroscience. I chose to participate in an international activity to learn more about another country鈥檚 culture. Since my first year, I had planned to go on exchange to Melbourne during my third year. The exchange, which was meant to happen last semester, was cancelled, but this internship gave me another opportunity to connect with the university and meet members of the community.

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This summer, I worked in Dr. Joel Bornstein鈥檚 lab which studies the enteric nervous system using mouse models. Previous studies have shown that a link exists between the gut and brain, where the gut can play a role in behavioral differences and in the development of certain psychological disorders. My specific project had a focus on early-life antibiotic treatment in male and female mice models. Mice were given either water or antibiotics for the first 10 days of life. After about a month, the mice colons were sectioned and photographed using confocal microscopy. These images were eventually sent to me to analyze.

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I read many papers and manuscripts relating to the lab鈥檚 work and published by previous and current lab members to gain a better understanding of the topics I was working with. I received a few hundred images from a different project (in the same lab) to practice analyzing. Using a software program, ImageJ/FIJI, I examined photographs of the mouse enteric nervous system to familiarize myself with the functions of the program. Then, I received the actual images I would need to quantitatively analyze. Using ImageJ/FIIJI, I analyzed the neuron number for different types of neurons, neuronal stain density, and neuron area size for each image. I acted as a blind observer, performing a quantitative analysis in parallel with another member of the lab. Once all the data is collected, the overall data will be analyzed for any pertinent findings or patterns.

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Since my program of study is Cognitive Science (with a focus in neuroscience and psychology), my background knowledge helped when reading papers to familiarize myself with the lab鈥檚 research. The enteric nervous system in the gut, like the name suggests, is part of the nervous system, so this relates to my neuroscience studies. Potential changes in the neuron types and numbers in the enteric nervous system have been seen to result in subtly altered behaviors in adult mice. Some behavioral changes can be mapped to psychological disorders, to which I can apply my knowledge from psychology classes. I would not have been able to learn as much as I did without my previous education and different terminology. Additionally, I hope to work with pediatric patients as a future physician, which requires knowledge and understanding of early childhood development. Children may require antibiotics at early ages, and many infants require antibiotic treatment, which may affect later observed behaviors, so it will be interesting to see how early-life antibiotic research in mice eventually translates to human behavioral outcomes.

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I鈥檓 especially grateful to have built connections with the other lab members through our lab meetings. Although the meetings were very late at night due to the time difference, I attended them almost weekly. It was great to be able to see the other members鈥� faces and to 鈥渕eet鈥� the people whom I was researching alongside. Through the weekly lab meetings and one-on-one meetings with my supervisor, I have not only learned much more about the enteric nervous system, but also about Melbourne and Australia. In between discussions about research, we also discussed current events and our everyday lives. The funding from this award allowed me to dedicate a solid amount of time to research topics that I am passionate about, as well as connect with members from a university that I was unable to attend in person. I am very grateful that I was still able to form connections on an international level despite the pandemic and travel restrictions. Thank you to Mr. Schull and Ms. Yang for their generous support, which made this experience possible.