University of Michigan student to present research on Capitol Hill

ANN ARBOR—David Zhen, a University of Michigan student from Grand Blanc, Mich., will be among 60 undergraduates from around the nation invited to present the results of their independent research in science, engineering and mathematics in Washington, D.C., on April 19.

The students will display their research posters to members of Congress, federal agency funding officers and invited guests in Rooms 338-B & 340-B of the Rayburn House Office Building from 5-7:00 p.m.

The presentation by Zhen, a sophomore in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, will be on research he is conducting in the laboratory of Eva Feldman, professor of Neurology, under direct supervision of Tracy Schwab, research investigator in U-M’s Department of Neurology. Their collaboration is part of the University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP). The research is on neuroblastoma, a neurological childhood cancer.

Although rare, neuroblastoma is the second most common cancer found in children. It is diagnosed in 650 newborns each year and has a 90 percent mortality rate for children after the age of one. In most cases, this high mortality rate is caused not by the tumor itself but by the spreading and development of the tumor in other parts of the body, especially the bones, which often causes excruciating pain and reduction in life expectancy.

"Our research investigates several proteins that seem to play an important role in neuroblastoma bone metastasis and that we believe may be potential therapeutic targets," said Zhen.

According to Sandra Gregerman, director of UROP, the presenting students were competitively chosen from several hundred applicants under a program of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). The research is funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, NASA and many other agencies—federal, state and private.

CUR is a national professional association that facilitates collaborative research by students and their faculty mentors.

"We work to provide students with a wide range of opportunities to learn science by doing it and we provide faculty with opportunities to integrate research into their teaching," Gregerman said. "Students with research experience as undergraduates go on to leadership positions throughout our society."

Related links:

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)  Council on Undergraduate Research