Each year, thousands of students complete their studies and earn degrees from the University of North Dakota. They begin working in the vocation they aspire to or go on for further advanced education and training in their chosen field.
In this issue of North Dakota Medicine, we introduce a few outstanding students who’ve earned (or will complete this year) degrees in programs offered by the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences. In many cases, they came to UND with a dream and, with guidance and encouragement from gifted faculty members, their dreams are achieved.
Sunitha Bollimuntha (PhD, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
Like gold in the hands of an artistic goldsmith, students are molded by talented teachers into competitive, self-reliant researchers, says Sunitha Bollimuntha, a PhD candidate in biochemistry and molecular biology.
“We are privileged to be in this department,” she says. “It is the research training and the one-to-one interaction that guide us to be innovative and rational thinkers. In realizing our career endeavors – not only to become independant researchers but also to evolve as ideal teachers – the faculty members play an exemplary role. We are what we are because of them.”
On her first visit to the United States, the day she arrived at UND, the India native found a “home away from home,” she recalls, giving the faculty, staff and students “all the credit for making me feel that way… I was blown away by the people and the warmth the department has shown me.
“It was overwhelming.”
The faculty “are the real treasures of the department,” she emphasizes, noting especially Chairman and Professor Gene Homandberg, PhD, who “does an excellent job and is always there for students.”
Motivated by “a passion to do research,” she works with her mentor, Brij Singh, PhD, associate professor, whom she describes as “extremely supportive and encouraging… friendly, easily approachable, and always there” when she needs advice and guidance.
Bollimuntha, who plans to finish her doctorate in August, is investigating the role of TRPC3, a calcium channel, in regulating neuronal function with an emphasis on neurosecretion.
The opportunity to attend Gordon conferences and other scientific meetings, where she’s presented posters on her research, is a bonus that offers valuable networking and is “very important for grant writing,” says Bollimuntha, who received support for her doctoral dissertation from the North Dakota EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research).
Bollimuntha intends to use the knowledge and skills she acquired at UND to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship, extending her experience in neuroscience, in an academic setting where she can teach and continue to conduct research.
Susan Austin (PhD, Pharmacology, Physiology and Therapeutics)
As a nurse assistant working at a Monticello, MN, nursing home during college, Susan Austin saw “the devastation caused by Alzheimer’s disease, not just to the patient but the family,” she recalls. “It’s traumatic for them to go through.”
In that experience seeds were sown that, with time, grew into a fascination with the brain and a drive to learn how it functions – and what goes terribly wrong when Alzheimer’s gains a foothold.
“The brain is fascinating,” she says, clearly struck by seeing “how much you can lose because of this disease,” and how quickly.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in medical science at St. Cloud (MN) State University, she worked in a clinical lab, married Chris Austin and became a mom to daughters, Cailin and Anna, now 10 and 8, respectively. She wanted to continue her education and considered going to medical school, but decided that research, “with a medical aspect and lab-oriented,” was her true calling.
Because of the heavy emphasis on neuroscience in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Therapeutics, UND was “a strong pull,” she says. She enrolled in the PhD program in 2004, seven years after college, her desire fueled by a determination to understand Alzheimer’s and contribute to finding improved treatment.
“There’s got to be a way to stop this (disease), or make this get better” she’s convinced. Under the guidance of her mentor, Colin Combs, PhD, associate professor, she has homed in on the inflammation process in neurodegenerative (brain) disease.
Studying a theory that’s new to Combs’ lab, Austin is analyzing the link between atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), she says. “We found a lot of similarities in the endothelial cells, the innermost part, of the blood vessels.” In the human AD tissue, she found the same changes in the vessels as what occurs in atherosclerosis, leading her to “strongly believe there’s a vessel issue” involved in AD.
The quality of Austin’s investigations led to a year-long fellowship at the Harvard Neurodiscovery Center in Boston where she moved with her family. Her project is aimed at “trying to stop the microglia, the inflammatory cells of the brain, from becoming active. We want to stop them from secreting toxic substances into the brain,” leading to the loss of neurons, which contributes to the development of AD.
She also is interviewing for positions at laboratories that conduct research that matches her interests, and hopes to begin work after her fellowship is completed in August.
Thanks to Combs and the PPT faculty, she feels very well-equipped for her career as a researcher, she says. “I have a strong foundation in how to do science, the right way to set up experiments and analyze data, how to write and speak well about the experiments and do some teaching. I am well-rounded in the sciences.”
She gives high praise to Combs who “has been absolutely amazing, giving me experience in writing papers, presenting my research, writing a CV and how to approach labs that I may want to join…
“His love of science is inspiring. I’ve never seen anyone so excited about their research. He’s just full of ideas” — ideas that fed her curiosity, creativity and resolve to find better answers to the puzzle that is Alzheimer’s disease.
