Michelle Stainbrook was the successful applicant for this year’s British Association of Lung Research [BALR] Breathing Matters Summer Studentship. She is a third year undergraduate student
in the Division of Medicine at UCL. We met with Michelle to talk about her summer project.
Michelle shared her lab experience, stating, “It was hard work, but so worth it. I spent the hot, wet English summer in a cool lab with not much else but a centrifuge and fibroblast cells as company – and I enjoyed every second of it.”
Her supervisors, Professors Abraham and Ponticos, allowed her a level of autonomy and independence. During her first month, she analysed over 57,000 fibroblast cells from normal lungs and compared them with fibroblasts from lungs of patients with pulmonary fibrosis, aiming to identify any previously unstudied genes that might merit further research. Excitingly, Michelle identified 11 genes of interest. With this data, she was then able to start culturing cells and investigating her selected gene: NUAK1, also known as ARK5.
Michelle expressed, “These few months have motivated me to help others, work hard and continue through the hardest parts of research, so I can improve the lives of others. My knowledge of genetics, laboratory techniques and hospital procedures expanded explosively and I could not imagine my future as a researcher to be the same without this studentship opportunity. I thank everyone involved, my professors and my co-workers, but especially BALR and Breathing Matters for giving me this life-changing opportunity.”
Michelle is set to attend a conference in Cambridge in July 2025, where she will present an abstract of her research focusing on the role of novel genes, including NUAK1, in lung fibrosis. The analysis is still in progress, and we will share additional updates on her research in the future.
[Posted October 2024]