Past SURP and SUARP Student and Mentor Accomplishments

We are in the process of accepting up to 21 students for the Internal Medicine department’s 2018 Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) and Summer Undergraduate Alcohol Research Program (SUARP) and are looking forward to a great summer. Thank you to the mentors and their staffs for the effort and time they put in to give these students hands-on experiences that broaden their knowledge of medical science and clinical research!

Recent accomplishments by past SURP and SUARP students include:

An abstract presentation titled "Intracranial Surgery and Hyperglycemia: A Missed Opportunity" by Maggie Rempe (SURP 2017) and mentors Rachel Thompson, MD, (primary mentor), Jason Shiffermiller, MD, and Kristy Carlson, PhD, all from the division of general medicine, won Best Research Presentation at the poster session at the Perioperative Medicine Summit in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on March 8.

Sarah Sweeney (SURP 2017) attended the 2017 Nebraska Physiological Society (NPS) meeting on Oct. 28 and presented a poster. "The Effects of Alcohol on the Dynamics of Lipid Droplet Ubiquitination in Ethanol-Metabolizing Hepatoma Cells" was a collaboration between Sweeney and her mentors, Karuna Rasineni, PhD, Paul Thomes, PhD, and Carol Casey, PhD (primary mentor), all from the division of gastroenterology and hepatology.

Austin Barry (SURP 2017) presented a poster, titled "A Retrospective Analysis of Transplant and Infectious Outcomes of a Temporal Break between Mobilization and Administration of Melphalan in Multiple Myeloma Patients Undergoing Autologous Stem Cell Transplant," at the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Feb. 21. Muhamed Baljevic, MD, Sarah Holstein, MD, PhD, Julie Vose, MD, and Matthew Lunning, DO (primary mentor), all from the division of oncology and hematology, are co-authors.

Tanner Wetzel (SUARP 2017) recently published an abstract titled "Lung mucosal immunity from secretory IgA may be impaired by MAA-adducted protein stimulation of epithelial cell TGF-b." Todd Wyatt, PhD (primary mentor), and Joseph Sisson, MD, in the division of pulmonary, critical care, sleep and allergy, are co-authors.

McKenzie Currey (SUARP 2017) was selected to represent Hastings College and has been invited to present her results at the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society Convention April 6 in Portland, Ore. The title of her talk is "Alcohol impairs lung derived mesenchymal stem cell proliferation." Currey was mentored by Kristina Bailey, MD, assistant professor division of pulmonary, critical care, sleep and allergy.

Jared Vanlandingham (SUARP 2016) was published for the article "Liver Tissue Metabolically Transformed by Alcohol Induces Immune Recognition of Liver Self Proteins but not in vivo Inflammation," in American Journal of Physiology – Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, last December. Lynell Klassen, MD, Geoffrey Thiele, PhD (primary mentor), and Ted Mikuls, MD – all from the division of rheumatology and immunology – and Dan Anderson, MD, PhD, division of cardiovascular medicine, are co-authors.

Daniel Penrice (SUARP 2013) will present a poster, "Expression of the Hepatocyte Asialoglycoprotein Receptor is Decreased in Human Cirrhotic Livers of Different Etiologies," at the Combined Annual Meeting of the Central Society for Clinical and Translational Research (CSCTR) and the Midwest Section of the American Federation for Medical Research (MWAFMR) meeting April 26-27 in Chicago. Benita McVicker, PhD, and Carol Casey, PhD (primary mentor), in the division of gastroenterology and hepatology, are co-authors.