Renee Hale Receives 2007 Freshman Research Scholars Award

Renee Hale won the best overall presentation at the Freshman Research Scholars reception on April 13, 2007.  As a result she will present her work at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in April 2008 (all expenses included!). 

The first photo shows Renee in the lab where she assembles and tests tissue structures.

Renee writes:

“My research was an optimization project in the field of biomedical engineering. Large quantities of specific types of dendritic cells (DCs) are vitally necessary for the research and treatment of several diseases, but finding a feasible means to produce the needed quantity of these types of DCs remains a challenge.”

“The three-dimensional (3-D) tissue model that Dr. Fahlenkamp is exploring is quickly becoming a viable alternative to other time-consuming methods of deriving DCs.  However, the 3-D tissue model has not yet been fully optimized.”

“The research I performed tested two different model variables in order to determine which model produced the highest number of specific types of DCs, while incurring the least amount of damage to the model. My results represent a step forward in the search for a reliable and cost effective method of producing large quantities of specific types of dendritic cells.”

In the second photo Dr. Heather Fahlenkamp evaluates the 3-D tissue models while Renee and graduate student Anirudh Shukla learn about the techniques.