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Good afternoon, everyone.

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My name is Simran Malhora,
and as Professor [? Gann ?]

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introduced, I am a neuroscience
and behavior major.

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So this summer,
I spent six weeks

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at the Strittmatter
Lab, which is affiliated

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with the school of medicine,
and I looked at various pathways

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affecting the progression
of Alzheimer's Disease.

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So I'm an international student.

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I'm from India.

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And it can be really challenging
to find an internship,

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especially in the States.

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So the one thing
that I would highly

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recommend you do before
you get into the process

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is really check your
eligibility to apply,

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because a lot of the
programs like SURF and REU,

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you need to be either
an American citizen

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or a green card holder--
neither of which, I was.

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I sent out a lot of emails.

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So I emailed about 50 labs
for the internship, and yeah.

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It gets to a lot.

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But also, I highly
recommend that you

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attend guest lectures,
both at Mount Holyoke

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and in the five college
area on Pioneer Valley.

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Not only does this
help you learn more

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about the ongoing
research in your field,

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it also helps you communicate
with researchers and PhD

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students, which I think
is a great experience.

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And finally, reach out to
the alumni associations,

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because they really
want to help you,

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and they have the great tips
and tricks up their sleeves.

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So before you get
to your internship,

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just generally research
the area, transportation,

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accommodation, which I think
is the most important thing,

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because you want to be
comfortable in your environment

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and really try it.

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So again, the alumni
association helped me out

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with accommodation,
because I knew nothing

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of New Haven and Connecticut.

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So the Strittmatter Lab--
the principal investigator

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is Dr. Stephen Strittmatter--
and I worked primarily

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with a graduate student
who was Santiago Salazar.

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And the lab focuses on
two primary aspects.

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One is we neuro-repair, and the
other is neuro-degeneration.

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So under repair, they look at
spinal chord injury, stroke,

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growth and repair of the axons.

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And under degeneration,
they focused

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on Alzheimer's disease, modules,
and mice, and [INAUDIBLE],

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to mention.

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So I was working with the
Alzheimer's Disease aspect.

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What is Alzheimer's Disease?

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It's a neurodegenerative
disease that

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currently affects
44 million people,

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and the numbers
are just growing.

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Two of the main symptoms are
memory loss and dementia.

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And right now, the only
cure we have is symptomatic.

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So you can cure
somebody's confusion,

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but you cannot prevent the
degeneration from occurring.

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And a lot of the
medication available right

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now has lithium, which is
extremely toxic to the cells.

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So there are two
speculative causes,

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one of it being
the amyloid plques,

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and the other, the
neurofibrillary tangles,

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or the tau tangles.

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Very quickly, the
plaques are formed

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by beta-amyloid, which is a
peptide with a yeast naturally

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in the cell.

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So as it accumulates, it forms
something called an oligomer,

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which is an insoluble product.

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This further develops to
form the plaque and disrupts

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intercellular communication.

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Tau is a protein that holds
together the microtubules

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within the cell.

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And what happens is when
it's hyperphosphorylated,

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which means when a phosphate
group is added to the tau

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protein, it disengages
and forms clumps.

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So these clumps come
together and completely

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destroy the cells in a
communication system.

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So the great thing about
the lab that I worked with

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is that it combined both causes.

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So we took the a beta
oligomers which are insoluble,

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which effect the PRP, which is
a cellular PRioN protein, which

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led to the downward
phosphorylation of tau

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forming tau [INAUDIBLE].

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So as the a beta oligomer
attaches to the PRP,

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it opens the channel
called m [INAUDIBLE], which

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initiates something
called [INAUDIBLE],

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which is a protein.

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And then this downward
cascade takes place.

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However, in all of this, there
is a protein called Pic2.

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It's not the same
as [INAUDIBLE], pic,

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but Pic2 is a protein
that's usually

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associated with learning.

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So my goal in the lab
was to characterize

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the expression of the Pic2
protein in the Alzheimer's mice

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module.

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So some of the
responsibilities I had

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were developing an
immunostaining protocol

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for this study, slicing grains,
and really imaging the cells,

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as well as presenting
weekly at the lab meetings.

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For the immunostaining
protocol, I

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used a procedure called
antigen retrieval, which

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basically adds primary
and secondary antibodies.

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And what they do
is they're attached

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to something that flouresces.

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So when you shoot a certain
wavelength of light at them,

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they tag your protein.

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And that essentially lights up.

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So the slicing technique, I used
a machine called a Vibratome--

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or as we fondly call
it, the brain slicer.

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And yes, this Petri
dish over here

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is actually a Petri
dish of mice again--

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and not blueberries, as friends
of mine once pointed out.

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And essentially, what
happens is the blade

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goes through the tissue, and
you can take a paintbrush

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and collect the brain
slices individually

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so you don't damage
the tissue afterwards,

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sort of [INAUDIBLE].

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Here are some images that
I took as part of the lab.

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These are neurons.

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And the red area
represents Pic2, which

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is the protein of interest.

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And the green areas,
only in this image,

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they are tagged for
Phospho-Tau, which

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is the phosphorylated tau.

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So conclusion.

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Well, there's a
lot I learned over

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the summer, and that included,
don't believe everything

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you read in the papers.

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The media tends to
sensationalize reports,

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especially with regard
to Alzheimer's Disease.

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And then ask lots, and
lots, and lots of questions.

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Everyone is going to
benefit from being

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on the same wavelength.

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Be open minded, because
learning is not only

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going to occur within
the lab setting,

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but it is also going
to happen outside of,

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because you're on your own.

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And in my case, it was a
multicultural household

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that I was part of.

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See, there was a lot of
cross-cultural experience.

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And finally, talk
to your lab mates,

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because you will be spending
a lot of time with them.

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And if you are interested
in graduate school,

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they can really help.

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So thank you all.

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[APPLAUSE]

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