University Lab Partners believes in giving students a very hands-on approach to the life sciences.
But the Irvine-based nonprofit wet incubator and medtech was born in December 2019, months before everything would be “out of hand” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Adaptation to the environment certainly mattered.
“Our high school outreach was extremely successful during COVID,” said University Lab Partners Executive Director Karin Koch. “There was nothing available for students, so we decided to develop an online program to really help students with some of their mental health issues and learn about COVID.”
That program, Medical Innovation Research and Entrepreneurship or MIRE for short, has become the flagship program for University Laboratory Partners. And yet…
“Students and teachers wanted more,” Koch said. “They wanted hands-on technical training.”
University High School student Juliet Kozlov chats with Judge Ali Al-Hakeem at this year’s University Lab Partners ROCK the Science event.
(Courtesy of Michael Baker)
On August 6, ULP held its third annual “ROCK the Science” event at UC Irvine. The event serves as the culmination of the ULP Summer Research Program, which featured 50 high school and college students who worked in groups on projects highly relevant to current life science discussions.
“When students come to us, they say, ‘Oh, I want to study the brain, or, ‘I want to study the liver,'” said ULP director of education Samantha Renusch. “They’re really focused on everything about it. to which they have been exposed so far, such as the diseases their family has encountered.”
Renusch said she had a student this summer who wanted to study B cells because her uncle had B-cell lymphoma and was currently being treated with CAR T-cell therapy.
“It was really exciting to be that catalyst for that student to better understand a disease that’s really taking its toll on her family,” she said.
Students spend eight weeks on their project, with two days per week scheduled for lab. At the end of that time, they do a PowerPoint presentation in class and a poster presentation that goes on at the ROCK the Science event.
Judges for the project included several executives from Thermo Fisher Scientific, a biotech company that serves as a key partner for the program by providing employee volunteers to help as well as supplies. Beckman Foundation Chief Executive Officer Anne Hultgren and Crescenta Biosciences Research Scientist Ali Al-Hakeem also served as judges.
Winners were selected in four groups. Theertha Hariharam Arulmozhi from University High School won for her project, “Stimulation of Zika-Induced Microcephaly in HMC3 Microglial Cells.” Cameron King of Fairmont Prep, Olivia Luebcke of Northwood High and Preston Wu of University High also came out on top for their project, “LPS Stimulation of B Cells and Its Role in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”
University High School student Theertha Hariharam Arulmozhi was a group winner for her project, “Stimulation of Zika-Induced Microcephaly in HMC3 Microglial Cells.”
(Courtesy of Michael Baker)
Angela Su of Northwood High, Solange Youssef of JSerra High, Bill Nguyen of Westminster High and Andrea Primicias of Irvine Valley College also won for their research on “In Vitro Modeling of LPS-Induced Neuroinflammation: Abnormalities in Gene Expression in Microglia in Let’s go”. And Coastal Occupancy Regional Program students Akshara Gobbur, Makenna Chung, Harini Suresh Kumar and Surya Kakarlapudi won for their report on “The Impact of B Cells in the Pathogenesis and Management of Type 1 Diabetes.”
Mia Wang of University High, Tram Nguyen of Westminster High and Isabella Barragan of UC Santa Barbara were the winners of the People’s Choice Award for their product, “Alzheimer’s Disease Model: Using Cholesterol and LPS to Influence TNF-Alpha Expression.”
The ROCK the Science event also allowed ULP to honor its four summer interns: Karla Cruz of Tustin High, Davina Pravin of Northwood High, Naiya Sapra of Irvine High and Mia Wang of University High. Each was awarded $500 for their career goals.
Renusch, whose background is in both academic science and biotech start-ups, has been with ULP for just under two years.
“We’re excited to fill that gap and help students understand the workforce,” she said. “They are doing real experiments. This is the really fun part. It is also very humbling for these students. When any scientist is in the lab, I constantly preach that 90% of the things you do here will fail. You are really fighting for that 10%. Don’t be discouraged when you have to repeat your experiment several times.”
Keynote speaker Uma Lakshmipathy, senior director of research and development at Thermo Fisher Scientific, speaks at this year’s ROCK the Science event.
(Courtesy of Michael Baker)
She teared up when she talked about how some of the students really struggled at first.
“They get to ROCK the Science and they’re so excited,” Renusch said. “What they did is not easy. A lot of our judges looked at the data they did and said, ‘Wow, I couldn’t get a qPCR experiment to work for a whole year in my career.'”
This real-world experience proves invaluable to many. In 2023 alone, ULP’s workforce development programming served 663 students, 87% of whom indicated an interest in pursuing a STEM career. Furthermore, 21% of them stated that they are or will be the first generation in their family to attend university.
Koch has seen the benefits. She said ULP wants to show students that they can love science and have career paths other than becoming a doctor or nurse.
“Many of our bio majors who come to us don’t know what they want to do as their first job, per se,” Koch said. “I think the career exploration and counseling, on top of practical technical skills training and real-world application, is what really sets the ULP program apart.”