"THE HEART OF THE MATTER"
a special program of the National Emergency Medicine Association (NEMA)

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Week: 591.3 

Guest: Duncan Moore, pre-med student, U. of Virginia 

Topic: Student research program at the NIH 

Host/Producer: Steve Girard 

NEMA: Duncan Moore, a pre-med student in his sophomore year at the University of Virginia, spent the summer working at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of National Institutes of Health near Washington, D.C. He was drawn to the neurological institute because of his interest in studying Alzheimer’s disease. Moore describes some of the research he’s been involved in, past and present.  

MOORE: I was working with animals, rats mostly, performing surgery on them...and mostly, what I was doing was I was using a protein that’s been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease called presinolyn 1...and was using the anti ? of that gene to knock out it’s MRNA in the brain and hoping to see some Alzheimer’s effects in the learning memory of rats. This year they decided to let me explore some other areas, and right now I’m working with human skin cells, and we’ve actually developed a dye that we think may dye the skin cells...just...normal patients skin cells, differently.  

NEMA: Hundreds of high school and college kids get jobs each summer at the NIH, offering hands on experience and practical knowledge. As part of the summer program, the Neurology Institute sponsors student seminars, workshops and lectures, on everything from the latest in research to applying for medical school. I’m Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.