MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

ABSTRACT: There is an initial learning curve associated with new undergraduate students working in research laboratories and a high turnover rate. But there is a serious need to maintain proper data collection and scientific integrity in these labs. Therefore I have complied this laboratory document guide for new undergraduate assistants that includes some important background information and procedural directions relevant to new students. After spending a semester in the Araneda Neurobiology Lab at the University of Maryland, I have learned a substantive amount about the theory and methods behind our research. Our lab focuses on using the olfactory system as a model to study neuromodulatory transmitters and their influence on sensory processing. This lab document provides a simplified description of the mechanisms of olfaction, including the circuit of how we smell. Important vocabulary and terms will be defined and explained in the context of our lab. In addition, three procedural directions relevant to a new student on the Immunohistochemistry team will be provided at the end of the document. A step-by-step guide to cell counting using Adobe Illustator is also included. This lab document will be useful to new undergraduate lab assistants by providing important background information and directions. (198 words)

READER’S PROFILE: I imagine a reader who is only getting involved in research to improve her medical school application. She has just started at the lab and has no interest in the olfactory system and does not see the connection to medicine or clinical applications.

READER’S RESPONSE: I never would have thought that studying the olfactory system actually has the potential to provide important information on neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s Disease. I didn’t realize that the olfactory bulb is one of two places in the cortex that creates new neurons throughout life, which is called neurogenesis. This is amazing that we can mark these new neurons and compare them within the olfactory circuit to pre-existing mature neurons. This research is actually relevant to the medical community because it can lead to an increased knowledge on serious diseases and disorders caused by a decreased functioning of neural circuits. Alzheimer’s mice are used in the Araneda lab and their behavior is studied as well. I can also learn about mammalian anatomy through the procedures that involve sacrificing the animal and removing the brain for analysis.

M -- you address this difficult reader quite well, by showing that the sense of smell is central to some neurological disease processes.

Be sure to give both a hard copy and a digital copy to your lab, so they can update this after you go on to the next big thing.