Amy Zuccato is a fourth year health and biomedical sciences student who has gained substantial labratory experience through the Outstanding Scholars program. 3 years ago, Amy joined a research team led by assistant professor Dr. Phil Karpowicz that focuses on the circadium clock and, specifically, its effect on the digestive system in humans and animals. Amy spent her first year in the program learning lab techniques-how to disect a body, how to mount and stain and how to use stereoscopes. In her second year, she was able to contribute to graduate-level projects and apply the techniques she learned. Now, in her last year, she has taken on her own project. Amy is conducting a time study with drosophila (fruit flies) to study the presence of green fluerescent protein based on the the time of day. The results obtained from this study will help determine the direction of the research team's future work. Dr. Karpowicz believes that this research will have a substantial impact on research and experiment protocol in the future-if proven that the biological system behaves differently based on the circadium clock, this will need to be taken into consideration to ensure consistency in data collection, for example.
"The biggest goal I had coming into the Outstanding Scholars program was to learn practical techniques in the lab-which I definitely got to do. It was cool to learn the theory in the classroom and apply it to the experiment work we were doing," Amy explained. "This work is important to me because the circadian clock has such a profound impact on biological systems. It was so cool to be a part of this research." Amy has applied to professional school and looks forward to a bright future in this field.