Undergraduate Research Gets Published
A BIOMEDICAL student at UWIC has had her work published in Bioscience Horizons, a prestigious journal newly launched last month.
Lisa Atkin spent the final year of her BSc degree carrying out research into Type 2 Diabetes. Her published work is entitled Rosiglitazone-induced SERCA2b inhibition: implications for monocyte cytoskeletal remodelling and diabetic microangiopathy.
Type 2 Diabetes is a widespread and growing problem in the Western world, with an estimated three million people in the UK projected to suffer from the disease by 2010. The disease originates from an inability of the cells of the body to respond to the hormone Insulin, causing many harmful consequences to the patient.
Lisa’s research involved the effects of the disease on white blood cells, which become more rigid, and so may become trapped in the small blood vessels of patients with Type 2 Diabetes. Using isolated white blood cells, Lisa identified the mechanism by which a drug that is commonly used to treat Type 2 Diabetes caused these cells to become less rigid. The increased flexibility that results in the white blood cells of patients taking this drug should reduce the risk of so-called ‘vascular diabetic complications’ – for example, problems arising in the eyes, kidneys and feet due to white blood cells becoming trapped in small blood vessels.
Commenting on her work Lisa said: “I was very pleased to be asked to write a paper for inclusion in Bioscience Horizons. I enjoyed doing the labwork for my project, and now writing this paper has given me an extra insight into the process of reporting new scientific findings to a wider audience. I’m very grateful to UWIC for supporting my research.”
The journal featured the work of the ten best science-based undergraduate projects from the UK and the Republic of Ireland for the general public to read.
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