Week 2 - Caleb Jones

Week 2 is just about over and so are a few uncertainties about my assigned project's direction. Additionally, I was able to engage in a shadowing experience with the Parkinson's clinic and observe an outpatient care setting much like Dr. Gauthier's. Dr. Sarva saw both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients and performed cognitive assessments as well as checking up on symptoms. This shadowing experience was exciting as those pathologies are more in line with my research interests. 

I am finally getting settled in with the resources required to begin data analysis, and have better defined project goals. Using the histology data provided by Dr. Gillen, I am working to reliably and accurately quantify myelin basic protein (MBP) and ferric iron content in slices from multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The areas of interest are in the center of MS lesions, the rim of the lesions, and normal appearing white matter (NAWM). We expect that MBP content will be lower within lesions than in NAWM, and for ferric iron to be present in higher quantities within the rim of lesions that were previously identified as rim-positive. We intend to correlate the results from my methods with previous methods, as well as  quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) MRI data, a method used by Dr. Gauthier's group to identify iron-laden cells that surround MS lesions. 

In other news, NYC is about what I expected it to be, and I am really enjoying it. Pro tip: don't ask the halal cart directly north of Olin Hall cart for "extra spicy" lamb over rice unless you really want to reconfigure your microbiome. 

Until next time folks,


Caleb Jones

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