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Consortium Undergraduate Student Program News

2023 CUSP graduate Hillina Berhane recently accepted a position as a Postbac fellow for Intramural Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this role, she will conduct research at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, under the supervision of Dr. Avindra Nath. Her focus will be investigating the neurological effects of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its association with cellular senescence.

Hillina graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, holding a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a Minor in Chemistry. Having completed a pre-medicine track, she is passionate about pursuing a career in medicine, specifically in the field of Hematology/Oncology. Hillina was a student of the first SenNet CUSP internship, in which she explored her interests in cellular and molecular biology, investigating cellular senescence in aged and irradiated mice liver tissue.

She gained invaluable experiences in vast laboratory techniques, such as IHC, IF, and qPCR, learning from top experts in the field of cellular senescence. The skills and exposure that she acquired during her internship developed her into a competitive candidate for the NIH Postbac program. She looks forward to applying those skills and the knowledge she obtained to her research endeavors at NIH.

CUSP 2023 Final Presentations:

Meet the 2023 CUSP Students:

Hillina Berhane

Ms. Berhane is a recent graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is interning at UCSD, where the lab is investigating senescent cells in aging and age related diseases in the liver, brain, bone marrow, breast, and colon across the lifespan of male and female mice. She will be focused on creating detailed single cell resolution maps of the transcriptome and epigenome in bone marrow, and assessing the effects of senolytics. Ms.Berhane aspires to be a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist serving underprivileged and marginalized communities, by reducing disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of hematological diseases.

Madison Brown

My name is Madison Brown. I am a senior at Howard University, from Los Angeles. Currently I am interning at the University of Michigan. During my time here, I have primarily been focusing on image segmentation and processing of our skeletal muscle datasets. After graduation, I plan on continuing my education to receive my MD/MPH. I have seen the lack of representation for minority groups in the field of medicine and it is my goal to not only break these barriers, but to provide the best care possible while working to improve the health of underrepresented communities.

Lily Chung

My name is Lily Chung and I am an upcoming junior at Missouri University of Science and Technology majoring in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Medical Lab Science. I am currently interning at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. There I am working on optimizing conditions for cells to adhere and grow in transwells. We are trying to test if senescence in myoblasts will produce a senescence phenotype in ovary cells in an adjacent transwell. I am also using immunohistochemistry techniques to stain different ovarian cell cultures with senescence markers. I am so excited to be in the Duncan lab learning new techniques and gaining invaluable experience.

Kai Como

My name is Kai Como, a senior, biology major at Prairie View A&M University. My internship is at Stanford University. My research team is in the radiology department. Our research aims to create a new biomarker that will detect senescent cells using the protein. I am writing a literature review on the expression of β-galactosidase in different tissues and organs. I will be conducting Western Blotting and PCR experiments on chondrocytes using cell cultures. I am most interested in the effects of senescent cells and β-galactosidase in the musculoskeletal system because I aspire to be an orthopedic surgeon. 

Cansu Eser

My name is Cansu Eser; I am a rising junior at Dickinson College majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Queens, NY. My internship is taking place at Cornell University in the Cosgrove Lab. I am currently learning the coding language R to analyze and score data collected regarding gene expression within cells in skeletal, muscle, and ovarian tissues to determine the likelihood of senescence. I am also shadowing grad students in the lab, learning how to perform dissection and organ collection on female mice at different points in their estrous cycle, and digest and harvest organoids from collected tissues.

Lauren Etsitty

Hello, my name is Lauren Etsitty. I am from the Navajo Nation, AZ, and am currently a rising Junior attending Lehigh University pursuing a degree in Computer Science and Engineering. This summer, I am a research intern at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the New York City Genome Center. My work includes understanding the computational and quality control workflows in running spatial transcriptomics data, creating microscopic annotations, H&E staining, and image processing. I appreciate the time and effort invested into this opportunity and applaud SenNet’s effort to provide undergraduate students with research experience.

Kaia Gray

My name is Kaia Gray, and I am a senior at Sam Houston State University. I am an intern at the University of Pittsburgh where research is being conducted on the cellular senescence of chronic lung diseases in aging individuals. This experience has given me the opportunity to work on various lab techniques and understand the ‘why’ of each step. I have been able to network and learn about different career paths in my time here. The lessons I have learned in this program have made me a better student, scientist, and person.

Kamilah Islam

My name is Kamilah Islam, I am currently a rising senior at the University of Wisconsin Madison. I am studying Biology on a pre med track. This summer I am working as the SenNet Consortium intern. I have been working with Beth to do single cells RNAseq on both adipose and liver tissue. For adipose tissue I have been working with and cutting fresh and frozen tissue, in which I’ve done both nuclei isolation and RNA isolations. For liver tissue I have isolated RNA and fixed frozen tissue for single cell RNAseq. Future plans for the summer include qRT-PCR on liver and adipose tissue and SA-bgal staining with adipose tissue.

Tanvi Jain

I’m Tanvi Jain, a rising Junior majoring in Bioinformatics at UC San Diego. I’m interning at Duke University this summer in data processing and visualization methods for sc Flow Cytometry data for the FlowKit package to highlight and analyze senescent cell types in lung and colon cell datasets in Python, along with learning the wet lab sc Flow Cytometry assays. I’m also experienced in scRNA-seq analysis as a part of HuBMAP, HLCA, and 1001 genomes project. I aspire to be working in entrepreneurial biomedical informatics and health-informatics.

Feel free to connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/tanvi-jain-820271217

Taejoon Kim

My name is Taejoon Kim, I am a rising senior, and I am a Macalester College student currently interning at the University of Minnesota. I am currently honing my PCR techniques so that I can start looking for senescence markers in high fat diet mice of different ages. I am most interested in the immune system and how it fends off a wide variety of pathogens/diseases.

Maria Lewis

My name is Maria Lewis and I’m a rising sophomore at Johns Hopkins University studying neuroscience with a double minor in Spanish and Psychology. I’m from Saint Paul, Minnesota and I’m currently doing research at Fan Lab at Yale University. I’m working with DBiT-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and staining to study senescent cells in human lymph tissues. My main goal of the summer is to learn new research techniques and enhance my understanding of senescent cells. Overall, I want to pursue a MD and I’m considering the MD/PhD path. I’m excited to have this opportunity and join my amazing team!

Thang "Mike" Mung

I am currently working at the Shu Lab at MGH. Under the tutelage of the research scientists, I have been gaining experience in single-cell techniques, Share-seq, and imaging instruments like the HT-1 microscope. In hopes of further understanding senescent cells in the human body, I hope to apply the knowledge and skills acquired to dive deeper into research in that area. In the near future, I hope to learn about Flow Cytometry and design my own experiment that will incorporate the skills I have learned. Ultimately, I hope to gain expertise in utilizing Raman microscopy to track single cell RNA profiles. I have had nothing but enjoyable experiences and comradery throughout my internship.

Ebenezer Nyenwe

Ebenezer Nyenwe is a rising senior Bioinformatics major at Xavier University of Louisiana interested in using his studies to improve the overall quality of healthcare. He is currently at the Washington University site where he is learning about crucial lab procedures and the application of bioinformatics in modern medicine. He is interested in new, cutting-edge research that involves computational biology. He plans on building up his skills as a researcher and getting an MD/PhD.

Fisayo Omonije

Hello! My name is Fisayo Omonije, and I’m a rising sophomore at Johns Hopkins University. I’m currently interning at the Knight Cancer Research Lab at Oregon Health and Science University. In the lab, I have been collecting, cutting, and staining mouse tissue samples – to better understand the presence (and threat) of senescent cells in vivo. 

I aspire to be an orthopedic specialist, which would allow me to combine my passion for medicine with my interest in sports science, as a current Division III track and cross-country athlete. I’m excited to continue to immerse myself in the biomedical sciences.

Ji Seo

My name is Ji Seo, and I am currently a 4th year student at California State University San Marcos. My internship is at Ohio State University Medical Center, specifically at the Heart and Lung Research Institute. I am currently working on culture of lung cells and analysis of precision cut lung slices. These techniques will contribute to characterization of markers of senescence in different lung cell types. My ultimate goal is to attend medical school and receive my MD. I am looking forward to continually learn and grow from this wonderful experience as well as applying all of these advanced techniques for future research.