News & Events
City Tech Student Wins First Prize in Nation-wide Neuroscience Research Poster Competition
Manpreet Singh (right) with Professor Karthikeyan
City Tech student Manpreet Singh won first prize in the neuroscience category at a poster competition held during the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in San Diego.Beating out junior-level students from the nation's top colleges (including some Ivy League ones), Manpreet, a third-year student at City Tech, was grilled by the judges about the research he had conducted on dystonia.
A neurological disorder, dystonia is characterized
by abnormal involuntary excessive muscle contractions that cause
twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures. He has been
working with City Tech Professor Laina Karthikeyan, who is a molecular
biologist, and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine's Dr. Pullani Shashidharan
to learn more about the genetic basis of the disease, focusing on
the most severe type of hereditary dystonia, which is early-onset.
"A mutation has been found in a gene of most
people who are diagnosed with dystonia in childhood," says
Singh, who came to this country at age ten from the state of Punjab
in India. "And we are studying the mutant protein encoded by
this gene, which is called torsinA, to find out its role in causing
dystonia."
Singh, a liberal arts and sciences major at City
Tech who plans to go on to earn a joint MD/PhD degree, came to the
College a few years ago without a clear sense of direction. "In
high school I hung out with the wrong crowd," he says. "I
have three older sisters and one of them would call every day from
New Jersey to wake me up so I would go to school. If it wasn't for
her, I don't know what would have become of me."
Singh enrolled at City Tech initially with the
idea of studying computer science. In his first semester, he took
the biology 101 course taught by Karthikeyan and found her lectures
to be inspiring and intellectually stimulating. "The emphasis
of the course was on cell and molecular biology and I became very
interested in the study of cells," he says. "What I like
about doing research is that you can work by yourself, which is
relaxing. I hope to be able to make a real contribution in the future
to cancer or AIDS research."
In that introductory biology course, both Singh's
curiosity and the kinds of questions he asked made an impression
on Karthikeyan, who encouraged him to pursue research. City Tech
offers qualified students opportunities to assist faculty members
with scientific research with support from the National Institute
of General Medical Science, Division of Minority Opportunities in
Research, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of
Research on Minority Health.
Two NIH-funded programs in which Singh participated -- Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement and Dual Bridges to the Baccalaureate -- are designed to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in biomedical research.
According to Karthikeyan, a native of Singapore who is of Indian origin, research isn't for everyone. "You need an analytical mind and persistence. Manpreet has those qualities," she says.
"Research can be laborious and time-consuming.
Manpreet puts in the hours and he is learning the techniques really
fast. He comes up with new ways of working on the same problem."
When he immigrated to Richmond Hill, Queens, ten
years ago, Singh, now 20, learned English from watching cartoons
on television and from friends. "He came in with the handicap
of not knowing English well and now is able to read and understand
all the scientific journal articles," Karthikeyan marvels.
"He is functioning at the level of a graduate student, well
beyond two years of formal research training."
Singh and Karthikeyan recently established the
Biology Seminar Club on campus with the dual purpose of bringing
in health-related researchers to expose students to the latest developments
and enabling students to present their work to their peers. They
will also visit well-established professional laboratories.
"I encourage my students to work hard and
excel," says Karthikeyan, who is trying to obtain grant money
to fully equip a molecular biology laboratory on campus. In addition
to her teaching and research responsibilities at City Tech, she
also teaches a course, "Sathya Sai's Education in Human Values,"
as a volunteer at the Flushing (Queens) Sai Center and directs plays
for them twice a year. She also participates in service projects
organized by the Flushing Sai Center at Coler-Goldwater Memorial
Hospital, which is located on Roosevelt Island in New York.
Karthikeyan had a passion for biology even as
a young child and her teachers in Singapore suggested that she consider
a career that incorporated biology, like medicine or research. In
college, her professors opened her up to possibilities in biological
research and she became interested in genetics, the science of heredity.
"At the time, molecular biology, which encompasses
the molecular aspects of biochemistry, genetics and cell biology,
was emerging as the next frontier of biological research,"
she explains. "After earning a master's degree at Boston University,
I pursued my PhD in molecular biology at NYU Medical Center, where
my thesis advisor, Dr. Richard Margolis, took an active interest
in my research."
Karthikeyan's research interest is the molecular
basis of inherited diseases, and her research involves the analysis,
manipulation and control of genes and proteins using recombinant
DNA technology. This technology allows scientists to isolate a specific
gene from the genome, so that its function can be studied. She hopes
that this kind of research will pave the way for biotech companies
to manufacture drugs that will save lives.
"Quite recently I turned down a very good job offer from a leading biotech company in California to keep my teaching post at City Tech," she says. "Teaching is instant gratification -- you can see the progress your students like Manpreet, make in the course of a semester and how you've nurtured their interests. With research, it can be years before you know the results. I feel lucky to have been able to make a career doing both."
Photo by: Michele Forsten
