Making Waves in Neuroscience

Sara Whiteman '18, Brainerd, Minn. 
Major/Minor: Neuroscience; Chemistry

After transferring to Concordia as a junior, Whiteman quickly immersed herself in her neuroscience major, getting involved in a hospital shadowing opportunity at Hennepin County Medical Center and diving headfirst into research.

In March 2017, Whiteman had the opportunity to present research for Mayo Clinic’s IMPACT (Innovative Minds Partnering to Advance Curative Therapies) Program. This program invites 200 undergraduate students from 23 colleges to come up with hypotheses for different challenges.

Whiteman noted that one of the perks of this particular study was being able to continue research that her professor, Dr. Jason Askvig, was looking into during grad school.

“The research focuses on the observation that younger rats are able to recover and regrow brain cells after a traumatic brain injury, but older rats are incapable of this regrowth,” she said.

Whiteman’s research has the ability to inform the neurological community about the brain’s ability to recover from such trauma. She said that it could also help advise doctors and other scientists about the treatment for traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

“[Our research] could eventually lead to some type of medicinal treatment for TBIs,” Whiteman said.

Because of the significant nature of the study, Whiteman was invited to present her research, “Injury- and age-dependent increases in Thy-1 in the rat supraoptic nucleus,” at St. Thomas University as well as the National Cell Biology Conference in Philadelphia.

This was the first time the Brainerd, Minn., native had presented scientific research at such a large conference with researchers from many places and she found herself in awe.

“I was struck by the sheer number of people who are conducting research and who are passionate about the subject of cell biology,” Whiteman said. “This opened up my eyes to the possibility of conducting research as a lifelong endeavor.”

Since presenting in Philadelphia, Whiteman went back to Mayo as part of the Mayo Innovation Scholars Program (MISP) in March 2018. This program selects undergraduates to aid in researching a budding device or idea being developed by Mayo professionals.

“Our team was given a deep brain stimulator, a device mainly used to treat Parkinson’s disease, to develop a recommendation on,” Whiteman said. “The program culminated with our team presenting our recommendation for many important investigators and management individuals at the Mayo Clinic.” 

After graduating from Concordia, Whiteman will work in the Mayo Clinic’s research lab with Dr. Arthur Beyder. She then plans to attend graduate school.

“I’m very excited about this project, as I will get to study the nervous system in a different part of the body than my previous research, which was looking at the brain,” she said.

Whiteman is proud of her experiences and involvement in the neurological community so far. She attributes her success and opportunities to Concordia.

“I know the education that Concordia has provided for me, the inquiring attitude, hunger for knowledge, and awareness of the world will make me successful in anything I set my mind to,” Whiteman said. 

^{Published April 2018}