FAU High School – Jupiter Campus, in Partnership with Max Planck Academy, Senior Research Reflection: Marvelle Dsouza

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by Marvelle Dsouza | Thursday, Oct 28, 2021

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Since I have been enrolled in Florida Atlantic University High School's Dual Enrollment Program, I have had the honor of participating in University-level classes during my high school career. To develop sustainable strategies on how to conserve our environment in the face of anthropogenic activities that degrade natural resources, I completed the H2O to Go program, in which I worked with scientists to engineer tools that are being tested as solutions to environmental challenges. At the Florida Center for Environmental Studies and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, I worked alongside research scientists to analyze the production of electricity utilizing electric generators powered by the movement of ocean currents.

Due to my interests, I participated in a Research Methods class, where I received an introduction to peer reviewing journal articles and building on background scholarly literature. This culmination of skills led to directing a group project on the correlation between technology usage on crosswalks and risk of pedestrian accidents. I have succeeded in taking three research methods classes, designed a research proposal, and was awarded with FAU's Undergraduate Research Grant Program.

Participating in the FAU High School – Jupiter Campus, in Partnership with Max Planck Academy program, I have unparalleled education from the unique Max Planck model of scientific training as well as the institute’s world-class technology and facilities. This has afforded me the opportunity of taking an Advanced Life Science and an Introduction to Neuroscience course, which has educated me about the techniques of serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) and generation of high resolution images from small samples of brain tissues. Furthermore, I worked in a Neurophysiology laboratory course, enhancing my understanding of neurophysiological signaling at the cellular level and whole animal. By utilizing waveform analysis, data analysis, and simulations, I examine electrical properties of neurons and their signaling, the basis for all neuronal function.

Working in MIT Graduate, Dr. Varela's, Thalamic Neuroscience laboratory, I inspect dynamics of Thalamic cell population activity during sleep. I also use optogenetics, extra cellular recordings, and statistical modeling to study local field potentials from limbic Thalamic networks. Our laboratory focuses on characterizing the coordinated activity of thalamic cell populations in the dorsal and ventral thalamus to understand their contribution to the integration and generalization of memories. The three projects I contribute to are about the dynamics of thalamic cell population activity during sleep, sleep-dependent memory consolidation, and sleep and synaptic plasticity. Furthermore, I began an independent project on how auditory stimulation impacts episodic memory to establish synaptic changes that occur in thalamic networks during sleep-dependent memory consolidation.

Participating in the Max Planck Academy has afforded me the opportunity of working in a Neurophysiology lab, enhancing my understanding of neurophysiological signaling at the cellular level and whole animal by using wet laboratory experiences. By utilizing waveform analysis, data analysis, bioinformatics, and simulations, I examine electrical properties of neurons and their signaling, the basis for all neuronal function. Operating oscilloscopes, picoscopes, biological amplifiers, and stimulators, I inspect the effects of temperature, refractory period, frequency, and pharmacological manipulation on action potential threshold and conduction velocity. Moreover, with faculty mentorship, I orchestrated an independent project on the effects of harmful algal blooms (HABs) on neuron excitability and presented my findings.

Currently, I am engaging in research with Dr. Jodi Schoenhaus (M.D.), a foot and ankle specialist focused on biomechanics, integrating neuroscience into podiatry, and sports medicine. We work with middle school athletes to conduct research on assessing the impact of the implementation of Integrative Neuromuscular Training (INT) on Adolescent athletes. We anticipate that INT will decrease youth athlete’s risk for overuse knee injuries, increase strength, and improve gait. These findings will provide insights into the potential implications of INT for injury prevention in youth athletes, and contribute to the growing literature on this training program. We assess the impact of INT on injury risk through gait analysis using specific walkway measurements through the Gait Lab in the Critical Research Unit in the Charles E. Schmidt College of medicine, investigate the effects of INT on injury prevention and performance through measures of strength taken before and after training, and evaluate the effects of INT on injury prevention by comparison of pre-intervention and post-intervention risk assessments.