BMERC RISE students conclude their summer research

Boston University hosts high school students who are passionate about scientific research in the summer term. This is known as the Research in Science & Engineering (RISE) program. RISE students spend six weeks at the university and gain hands-on experience in the exciting cutting edge scientific research happening on campus. Research projects span a wide range of topics, including astronomy, biology, biomedical engineering, chemistry, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, medical laboratory research, neuroscience, physics, psychology, and public health.

This past summer BMERC affiliated labs accepted two RISE students, Raymond and Vijay. Raymond was mentored by graduate student Amanda Wakefield from the Vajda group. He conducted computational studies on protein binding sites. Vijay worked closely with Ashley Rebelo from Prof. Karen Allen’s lab and worked on protein crystallization. At the end of the RISE program, both students presented their research at a poster symposium in front of an audience comprised of those familiar with research as well as the general public. Raymond’s and Vijay’s posters are titled “A Comparison of Computational and Experimental Methods for Determining Binding Sites of Proteins” and “Optimizing Crystallization Conditions of the N-terminal Domain of hAMPDA2 and Implementing a Baculovirus Expression System for hAMPD1 and 3” (see photos).