Students look into Lyme Disease preventatives, diagnosis and treatments
Future Millikin University student Victoria Mineo, of Naperville, Ill., is looking forward to the many hands-on learning opportunities that Millikin has to offer when she starts her first year in the fall. Mineo recently got a jumpstart on her Performance Learning experience by participating in Millikin's annual Chemistry Camp held June 4-8.
The Chemistry Camp, hosted by Millikin's College of Arts and Sciences and Center for Entrepreneurship, gave 11 high school students an opportunity to conduct research on Lyme disease in Millikin's Leighty-Tabor Science Center.
Students researched how the disease spreads and what might inhibit that transmission. The students also looked into preventatives, diagnosis and treatments.
"We focused on Lyme disease because it has some interesting problems that are really doable for high school students and it gives them the experience of research in a real environment," said Dr. Anne Rammelsberg, associate professor of chemistry at Millikin.
During the research process, the students isolated DNA from ticks and studied them to see if they carried Lyme disease. Some of the ticks were from central Illinois while others were from Canada, northern Illinois and upstate New York.
The students also isolated enzymes from yeast and added inhibitors to the enzyme mixture to see if whether the enzyme produces more or less of the product. If it produces less that means it's an inhibitor. The students tried to find a mixture of materials that would shut the enzyme down almost completely, meaning they found something that could be a better combination of drugs to potentially treat Lyme disease.
"We live and breathe by the mantra of doing. The students start with scientific literature – it's all about them learning as they go," Dr. Rammelsberg said. "They're teaching and learning, and it's in real time. It's about a real problem."
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Lyme disease is the fastest growing vector-borne, infectious disease in the United States. The number of cases reported annually has increased nearly 25-fold since national surveillance began in 1982. The CDC reports that Lyme disease infects 300,000 people a year, 10 times more Americans than previously reported.
"It's a fun experience because we get to do different parts in the lab and it's more hands-on work," Victoria Mineo said. "I enjoy the collaborative atmosphere that Millikin has to offer."
Current Millikin students also participated in the camp, taking part in the experiments and working with the high school students. The Millikin students also served as mentors by sharing their experiences as college students.
Student Daniel Mueller, from Morton, Ill., liked being around other students who enjoyed doing the research.
"It's unique to have a group of students who are together trying to accomplish the same thing in a lab setting," Mueller said. "It's been great getting to hear everyone's interests in chemistry. We're using this as a retreat to have fun and to do science."
The camp also included presentations by area health professionals and finished with a complimentary dinner event with local employers, family, faculty and teachers where the students presented the results of their work.
"It's an intense week of the students becoming scientists," Dr. Rammelsberg said. "They get to learn new skills, learn what classes they could take and what else can help them on their future path."
Millikin will host a Chemistry Camp for junior high school students July 23-27.