Virtual Summit Submission

SUNY Oneonta
Biology, Pre-Veterinary

Biography

Ellie Vogl is a Biology Major with a Pre-Veterinary Concentration at SUNY Oneonta. She is involved in her local animal shelter, veterinary hospital, and horse barn, gaining experience as she applies to veterinary school. She also completes research in parasitology and herpetology with campus professors. She has received the Transfer Student Excellence Scholarship, Alumni Association 9/11 Memorial Scholarship, SUNY ACT for Excellence and Student Initiative Scholarship, Susan Sutton Smith Student Award for Academic Excellence, and the Richard Siegfried Student Award for Academic Excellence. She aims to attend veterinary school and achieve her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM).

Project

Evaluating the Role of MARK4 in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Responses in Mice
This past summer I traveled to Tokyo, Japan to participate in a 1-month internship at Tokyo Metropolitan University. I spent my time in Tokyo working in the molecular neuroscience and neurobiology laboratories conducting research on mice. My project looked at how presence or absence of the MARK4 gene in mice impacted response to injections of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or saline. I conducted three trials measuring temperatures, weights, food-eaten, and conducting various behavioral tests on mice injected with LPS or saline. Mice that received the LPS injection displayed weight loss, decreased appetite, and fatigue. Temperature changes were negligible between treatments. Overall, I found that LPS impacted both wild mice (who have the MARK4 gene) and KO mice (without the gene), however, there were negligible differences in the impacts of LPS on wild versus KO groups. My hypothesis that the presence of MARK4 influences the molecular responses to LPS was rejected. Understanding molecular pathways and inflammation may lead to future drug development.