Previously Available Summer Research Training Program Projects
| Mentor | Department | Research Title | Research Description | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nausheen Ahmed | Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapeutics | BCMA re-emergence in myeloma post CAR-T as a predictor of relapse | This was a retrospective review of MM patients who received CAR-T at our institution | No |
| Allison Aripoli | Radiology | Internal mammary lymph nodes in breast cancer patients and patient outcomes | Investigation of clinical significance of internal mammary lymph node detection in breast cancer patients | No |
| Shelley Bhattacharya | Family Medicine and Community Health | Assessing and Improving the Cognitive and Visual Driving Fitness of CDL Drivers | Driving is a highly dynamic task that requires intact cognitive and visual skills to perform safely. Driving a commercial motor vehicle requires careful planning and consideration. These additional factors are highly dependent on cognitive and visual skills for accuracy. This study aims to identify specific clinical tests that correlate well with commercial driver’s license (CDL) driving performance. We developed a two-hour driving fitness assessment battery consisting of tests that have been shown in the literature to be reliable and valid measures of driving-related cognitive and visual skills in drivers, with appropriate scoring systems and recommendation guidelines. Data will be collected annually for three consecutive years, year 1 data has already been collected. The goals of this year of the study were to: 1) Assess the cognitive and visual fitness of CDL drivers by implementing the battery of tests listed above for years 2 and 3, 2) Confidentially share the results with each CDL driver , 3) Share potential risk factors that contribute to unsafe driving with the CDL driver and provide resources to improve any recognized deficits, 4) present our findings in a paper or scholarly presentation. Over the course of the grant, we anticipate the study will identify the top five clinical tests that can correlate well with on-the-road driving safety of CDL drivers. | No |
| Melisa Boersma | Radiation Oncology | "Prevalence of Executive Control (ECF) Impairment Among Patients Referred for Radiotherapy." | Administered the MMS and EXIT25 assessments of mental status and Executive control functioning to patients receiving radiation therapy at the UTHSCSA Radiation Oncology Department prior to receiving radiation and again at a later predetermined date. Purpose to assess what the baseline Executive control function of patients was prior to receiving radiation and extent to which is was observed to change over time. | No |
| Kelly Bosak | School Of Nursing | Institute for implementation Science Scholars (IS-2) | The Institute for Implementation Science Scholars (IS-2) at Washington University in St. Louis is a mentored training program for early-career to mid-career researchers interested in applying dissemination and implementation (D&I) methods and strategies to reduce the burden of chronic disease and address health inequities. | No |
| Marie Brubacher | General & Hospital Medicine | Social Determinants of Health and Breast Cancer Screening | Describing SDH and breast cancer screening gaps in addition to factors including race, ethnicity, zipcode and insurance carrier | No |
| Nikki Cheng | Cancer Biology | Characterization of cytokine and chemokine pathways in breast cancer associated skeletal muscle wasting | This project seeks to examine the role of cytokine and chemokine pathways in skeletal muscle atrophy using cell culture models and biochemical approaches | Yes |
| Nikki Cheng | Cancer Biology | Examination of a metabolic signature in early stage breast cancer | This project seeks to characterize a metabolic signature in CCR2 mediated DCIS progression in PDX models using imaging and immunostaining approaches. | Yes |
| Hannes Devos | Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Science, and Athletic Training | Factors influencing virtual reality treadmill training in individuals with multiple sclerosis | We completed a randomized controlled trial comparing virtual reality treadmill training with conventional treadmill training for individuals with multiple sclerosis. The aim of this summer project is to identify which individuals benefit from training. | No |
| Hannes Devos | Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Science, and Athletic Training | Neurophysiological Changes in Preclinical Alzheimer's disease | The goal of this study is to examine changes in electrophysiological brain activity and in pupillary response between individuals at risk of Alzheimer's disease and healthy older adults. | No |
| Hannes Devos | Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Science, and Athletic Training | Refinement of the virtual reality comprehensive balance assessment and training (VR-ComBAT) test | The goal of this project is the add a cognitive test to the VR-COMBAT and to extract gaze and pupillary response from the VR eye tracker. Familiarity with Unity software is required. | No |
| Mazen Dimachkie | Neurology | Neuromuscular Disease Research Program (NDRP) | Multiple ongoing projects in ALS, myasthenia gravis, neuropathy, and muscle disease. | Maybe |
| Donna Ewy | Wichita - Family & Community Medicine | A Comparison of Opiate Usage Between Demented and Non-Demented Patients at a Veterans Home | Medical Student (Nan Jansson) will obtain information from review of EMR | No |
| Valerie French | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Experiential Learning and how Medical Students choose a Specialty (ELMSS) | The COVID-19 pandemic caused medical schools to limit in-person clinical experiences for thousands of medical students. We want to understand how the decrease in clinical exposure and experiential learning impacts students as they determine their specialty choice. The primary aim of our study is to describe how the decreased experiential learning that the medical student class of 2022 experienced during their third year of medical school impacted their decision to choose a medical special-ty. Additional aims will describe how the decreased experiential learning impacted: 1. student confidence in their decision to choose a specialty 2. student confidence in their readiness to enter residency 3. student perception of the value of experiential learning during medical school This is a mixed methods study combining quantitative survey data with qualitative focus group data. We will uti-lize survey data assessing students’ confidence in choosing a specialty previously collected by the Office of Medi-cal Education at the University of Kansas Medical School in the students’ first year for the class of 2022. We will distribute a questionnaire during the focus group asking for descriptors of participants to include current specialty interest, confidence of specialty choice, and gender. We will conduct focus groups with students from the class of 2022 to explore qualitatively student experiences with reflections about the clerkship clinical experience and how that affected their specialty choice and confidence in specialty selection. While we anticipate student’s ability to choose a specialty will not be impacted, our study results will clarify stu-dents’ perceptions of the importance of clinical experiences in the clerkship and choosing a specialty. Our results will also provide guidance on which experiences in a clerkship are the most salient in assisting students’ decisions about choosing a specialty. This knowledge will guide medical educators as they build clinical experiences into medical student curriculum. The summer medical student will be in charge of transcribing, verbatim, the 4-5 focus groups. Each focus group is 1.5 hours long. We anticipate 4 hours needed for every 1 hour of recorded audio (4 x 1.5 x 4 = 4 | No |
| Anna Gorczyca | Physical Activity & Weight Management | Menopause transition and chronic disease risk | This project will include conducting literature searches and secondary data analyses on the impact of menopause status and chronic disease risk factors. The Division of Physical Activity and Weight Management have conducted many randomized controlled trials on physical activity and dietary interventions for weight management. The impact of these interventions may differ depending on menopause status which will be further explored for this project. | No |
| David Guggenmos | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Changes in cortico-cortical connectivity following a unilateral injury to primary motor cortex. | Are neuroanatomical connections between premotor cortex and other cortical areas altered following a unilateral injury to primary motor cortex? | No |
| Tami Gurley | Population Health | The Intersection of Health and Employment for Older Americans | This project uses data for people aged 51+ to assess how many are in physically demanding and in-person jobs, which put them at greater risk for work-related injuries and COVID-19 exposures. The goal of the training project is to get a co-authored journal submission drafted for submission. There will be data work (making figures/tables), writing, and developing/implementing ideas with the project team. | Yes |
| Tami Gurley | Population Health | What Predicts Patient Success in a Community Health Worker Program? | This project uses data from the area's largest Community Health Worker Program, operated by the Kansas City CARE Clinic, to assess what factors contribute to successful goal completion for enrolled patients. The SRTP goal is to produce a co-authored manuscript for submission. SRTP activities will include data analysis, creating figures/tables, writing, and working with the project team to develop and implement research ideas. | Yes |
| Janna Harris | Anatomy and Cell Biology | Imaging biomarkers of brain injury, aging, and neurodegeneration | Studies in the Harris Laboratory use animal models and MR imaging at 9.4 Tesla to investigate the effects of age and biological sex on TBI pathophysiology. Summer research projects for M1 students will consist of analysis of MRI, MRS, or behavioral data sets, or "wet lab" experiments to evaluate biological samples. Projects are selected based on the interests and experience of the applicant. | Maybe |
| Eugene Lee | Urologic Surgery | Resilience in patients undergoing radical cystectomy | Prospective evaluation of resilience and quality of life in patients undergoing radical cystectomy for bladder cancer | No |
| Benyi Li | Pathology and Laboratory Medicine | Glycolytic metabolism in advanced cancers | To determine if altered glycolytic is associated with cancer progression and to develop novel therapy to block this pathway for cancer treatment. | Maybe |
| Marissa Love | Allergy, Clinical Immunology, and Rheumatology | A Descriptive Analysis of the Food Allergy Population in Allergy clinics at the University of Kansas Medical Center | I helped Natasha LaGrega, medical student, develop a summer research project for medical school for her upcoming SER weeks and summer 2022. I am the primary mentor for this project. There are no fellows working on this project. The purpose of this retrospective study is to identify and describe an underserved food allergy population in Allergy clinics at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) who has food insecurity or is at risk of food insecurity. These patients may be eligible for supplemental nutrition services, and we plan to assess the quality of their food allergy management. | No |
| Marissa Love | Allergy, Clinical Immunology, and Rheumatology | Nutritional Status of Patients with Food Allergy & Food Insecurity | I helped Abigail Murray, medical student, develop a summer research project for medical school for her upcoming SER weeks and summer 2021. I am the primary mentor for this project. There are no fellows working on this project. We are coupling this project with a clinical component where she will shadow me in pediatric allergy clinics | No |
| Mary Markiewicz | Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology | The effect of NKG2D ligand expression on CD8+ T cells on CD8+ T cell immunotherapy | The major goal of this project is to understand how NKG2D ligand expression by CD8+ T cells affects CD8+ T cell cancer immunotherapy | |
| Mary Markiewicz | Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology | The effect of NKG2D ligand expression on NK cells on NK cell immunotherapy | The major goal of this project is to understand how NKG2D ligand expression by NK cells affects NK cell cancer immunotherapy | |
| Mary Markiewicz | Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology | The effects of NK cell immunotherapy on melanoma growth | The major goal of this project is to understand when and how NK cells enhance melanoma growth. | |
| Mary Markiewicz | Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology | The role of NKG2D-ligand interaction in autoimmune diabetes | The major goal of this project is to understand the role NKG2D-ligand interaction plays in autoimmune diabetes development. | |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | CACTUS study | Assess risk factors and prevalence of coronary artery disease using calcium scoring in gender diverse population using gender affirming hormone therapy. | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Placental kisspeptin expression with miscarriage | Will recruit, enter data and assess placental kisspeptin levels in patients with miscarriage | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Signaling pathways in placentation | This project will look at molecular pathways for placental differentiation with goal of better understanding etiology for miscarriage. Student will be involved with clinical chart review and data collection, participant recruitment, specimen collection/transport, specimen processing and basic lab work in Dr. Soumen Paul's lab. | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Platelet rish plasma intrauterine injection and impact on frozen embryo transfer outcomes | Students will process blood specimen to generate platelet rich plasma for intrauterine injection and be involved with recruitment, data entry and analysis. | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Role of natural killer cells and REST in endometrium of recurrent pregnancy loss patients | Student will recruit study participants from REI clinic, schedule endometrial biopsy and transport of specimen to research lab. They will help generate IRB and can participate in specimen processing, data analysis and publication/presentations | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Association of dermal carotenoid levels and semen parameters | The Veggie Meter uses Resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS), a valid, rapid, non-invasive method to measure carotenoid status, and shown to be a strong predictor of plasma carotenoid status and dietary intake of fruits and vegetables. Student will recruit and perform veggie meter testing and associate with semen parameters. | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Assessment of Serum Kisspeptin Levels in Pregnant Women | We will work with Dr. Michael Wolfe's lab to assess kisspeptin levels in response to ovarian stimulation and associate with pregnancy outcomes. | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Effect of sex steroid hormones on SARS-CoV-2 in reproductive tissue | Collaboration with Dr. Lane Christenson to assess SARS-CoV-2 levels in uterine and ovarian tissue from transgender men and cis-women | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Role of microbiome in pregnancy outcomes | Retrospective chart review on the association between uterine microbiome and pregnancy outcomes in infertile patients | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Role of REST in endometrial proliferation | We will work with Dr Warren Nothnick to examine role of REST in proliferative phase of endometrium in those with thin and adequate endometrial lining and associate with pregnancy outcomes | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Transgender Health in Older Adults | Perform focus groups in transgender individuals aged 55yrs+ to assess quality of health metrics | No |
| Courtney Marsh | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Use of Wearable Device for Assessment of Ovulation | Garmin industry sponsored research study to examine nutrition, physical activity, and clinical parameters to predict ovulation through wearable device. | No |
| Laura Martin | Population Health | Brain Activation to Highly Palatable Food | Identify highly palatable food images and examine reward and self-regulation related brain activation in individuals with body mass index in the healthy weight to obese range. | No |
| Diego Mazzotti | Medical Informatics | Identification of Underdiagnosed Sleep Disorders in Electronic Health Records using Machine Learning | Sleep disorders are prevalent conditions associated with innumerous health consequences. Early screening of sleep disorders might facilitate accurate diagnosis and support timely therapeutic approaches. Physician-documented clinical notes capture underlying sleep symptoms that might not be available as structured fields in the electronic health record (EHR). In this study, we aim to leverage machine learning and natural language processing methods to validate algorithms to identify sleep disorders from clinical notes and other sources in the EHR. We will validate our algorithms by chart review identifying mentions/indication of sleep disorders. This would be a great opportunity for medical students to 1) understand the importance of sleep as it relates to other medical conditions; 2) fundamentals of artificial intelligence, machine learning and medical informatics; and 3) be involved in a rigorous study that could impact the field of sleep medicine. | Yes |
| Jennifer McRae | General & Hospital Medicine | Depression screening and remission in clinic | How are we capturing the clinical management after completing depression screening. How can we improve this | No |
| Randolph Nudo | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Altered interhemispheric neuroanatomical connections after stroke | Neuronal projections from the premotor cortex to the contralateral cortex will be quantified in rats with an ischemic infarct in primary motor cortex and compared to rats with no injury to identify cortical areas that have the highest density of new innervation. | Maybe |
| Randolph Nudo | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Changes in lesion volume after the injection of mesenchymal stem cells following TBI | In a rat model of traumatic brain injury, lesion volumes will be quantified in rats with an injury to primary motor cortex that received peri-lesional injections of stem cells and compared with injured rats that received no stem cell injections to determine whether stem cells reduce lesion size. | Maybe |
| Barbara Polivka | School Of Nursing | Adults with Asthma in the era of COVID-19 | I work with a research team of physician and nurse scientist in determining the impact of COVID-19 on adults with asthma. We have international surveys and a pending NIH funded study of indoor air quality and direct impact on adults with asthma. Would be happy to discuss further. | Maybe |
| Madhuri Reddy | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Description of a novel method for postpartum salpingectomy for permanent sterilization | Need to write up the novel method of performing bilateral salpingectomy for the purpose of permanent contraception during the postpartum period. This will involve doing literature search to learn about how to write an article that is descriptive. Once appropriate journal is identified the student will need to review past article that have similar format and write the paper. I anticipate we can submit for publishing by end of summer. I will also need help with data management and write up for another project involving laparoscopic training of the residents.. | No |
| Adam Rouse | Molecular and Integrative Physiology | Analyzing iEEG Machine Learning Algorithms to better predict Epilepsy Surgery Outcomes | We will analyze several machine learning algorithms for their ability to identify seizure onset zones from iEEG recordings. We will then evaluate their predictive power for improving surgical outcomses for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. | No |
| Adam Rouse | Molecular and Integrative Physiology | Assessment of Low Field and High Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain in Pediatric Patients | We will compare brain images from a new portable MRI machine (Hyperfine) to traditional MRI images collected from patients age 0-4 at Children's Mercy Hospital. As a first assessment, we will perform segementation of CSF ventricle volumes to test the accuracy of the portable low field MRI for tracking patients with hydrocephalus. | No |
| Brenda Salley | Hearing and Speech | Language Promotion in Pediatric Primary Care (Talk With Me Baby) | Evaluation project for embedding universal language promotion during well-child exams (birth to 36 months) within standard anticipatory guidance. | No |
| Shivani Scharf | General & Hospital Medicine | Diabetic coordinator impact | See above | No |
| Shivani Scharf | General & Hospital Medicine | Impact of APPs on access | See above | No |
| Ashley Shaw | Neurology | Brain Healthy Soul Food Diet Intervention Among Older African Americans | The primary research goal of this study is to culturally adapt an established brain-healthy diet to the soul food traditions of African Americans, and to test its feasibility and acceptability among older African Americans using a community based participatory research approach. We will conduct focus groups and brief quantitative surveys to identify barriers and facilitators of dietary behaviors to inform the intervention. | No |
| Lisette Swails | Pediatrics | Follow up after new ASD diagnosis | Follow up with families after new ASd diagnosis and determine number of families able/not able to complete recommended interventions. | No |
| Sufi Thomas | Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery | Characterizing the mechanisms of secretory autophagy | Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are highly associated with non-malignant fibroblasts called cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs).We reported that HNSCC induce secretory autophagy in CAFs whereby the cells secreted factors including interleukins with protumorigenic effects. This project will tease out the mechanisms that regulate secretory autophagy. This would help identify new targets that would attenuate cancer progression. Cell culture and imaging would be primary techniques. The trainee would work with a post doctoral fellow on this project. This would be a good project for those interested in the honors program. | No |
| Sufi Thomas | Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery | Microbial effects on cancer progression and response to therapy | Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a highly morbid disease with poor survival despite therapy. Although microbial presence in oral cavity tumors is well established, there is a dearth in characterization of the identity and effects of bacteria in tumor progression and response to therapy. Using bacterial ribosomal RNA sequencing, we identified bacteria associated with HNSCC. The summer project involves cell culture studies to determine the effect of bacterial factors on HNSCC proliferation, invasion, migration and response to standard of care. The trainee with work closely with an experienced assistant in the laboratory. This is a good project for those interested in an honors program. | No |
| John Thyfault | Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Pharmacology | Ketogenic Oscillations and Neurometabolic Health span | Investigate mechanisms by which exercise and alternative day fasting improves health through liver derived benefits driven by ketogenesis. | Maybe |
| John Thyfault | Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Pharmacology | Aerobic Fitness, Mitochondrial Function, and Fatty Liver Disease. | The goal of this grant is to examine mechanisms by which aerobic fitness impacts susceptibility for fatty liver through modulating hepatic mitochondrial function, bile acid metabolism, and epigenetic programming | Maybe |
| John Thyfault | Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Pharmacology | Statins, mitochondrial function, and aerobic capacity. | The goal of this grant is to examine if statins negatively impact skeletal muscle mitochondrial function and aerobic capacity and if statins negatively impact exercise adaptations in human subjects. | Maybe |
| Eric Vidoni | Neurology | Disclosing Alzheimer's Biomarker Results to Research Participants | We are investigating best practices and formats for disclosing various dementia-related biomarker results (MRI, CSF, blood, etc) to research participants. | No |
| Robert Winfield | Surgery | Is Hypercoagulability or Hypocoagulability a Greater Risk Factor for Organ Failure Following Trauma? | This retrospective review will examine potential correlations between admission coagulation status (as determined by thromboelastography) and the development of postinjury organ failure. | No |
| Jennifer Woodward | Family Medicine and Community Health | Rates of Self-reported Social Determinants of Health Needs in Primary Care | Analyze and summarize rates of SDOH data in a primary care clinic | No |