The STARS Summer Research Program gives science teachers and students an opportunity to work in a research environment.  During the summer of 2003, 5 secondary science teachers from around the state of Texas, 1 community college teacher, 5 high school juniors from the Dallas ISD, and 1 community college student started an eight-week summer internship working in research laboratories on the UT Southwestern Campus and affiliated institutions. Under the guidance of a faculty host, participants complete a research project and present their findings at the end of the summer.

Joseph Arizpe Townview Talented & Gifted High School, Dallas Host: Stephen Gold, Ph.D. Psychiatry		Research in Dr. Gold's laboratory focuses on the neural substrates of cocaine and heroin addiction and the mechanism of action of antidepressant treatments. In particular, he has been investigating the role of G protein coupled receptor signaling pathways in the actions of these drugs/treatments.  Joseph is working on validating the results of a Porsolt's forced swim test, a behavior test used to determine the efficacy of an antidepressant on mice.
Marlo Burks Townview Education & SocialServices High School, Dallas Host: James Bibb, Ph.D. Psychiatry		Research in Dr. Bibb's laboratory focuses on neuronal signal transduction as it pertains to normal brain function and a number of neurological disorders.  Marlo is studying addiction by looking at pathways of CDK5 in neurotransmission.
David Graves Tarrant County College Host: Beverly Rothermel, Ph.D. Internal Medicine		Research in Dr. Rothermel's laboratory focuses on a protein phosphatase called calcineurin which plays a role in muscle fiber development. A new family of proteins called modulatory calcineurin-interacting proteins (MCIPs) are endogenous inhibitors of calcineurin signaling.  David is working on studying the overexpression of MCIP in transgenic mice and measuring the calcineurin activity in their muscles.
Emily Hall Townview Talented & Gifted High School, Dallas Host: Michael Bennett, M.D. Pathology		Research in Dr. Bennett's laboratory focuses on investigating bone marrow transplantation and natural killer (NK) cells. Marrow depleted of T cells to prevent graft-versus-host disease is very susceptible to rejection and they are attempting to characterize 'graft facilitating T cells' that tend to prevent rejection.  Emily is studying NK cell receptors in chimeric mice.
Joanna Jimenez Molina High School , Dallas Host: Preet Chaudhary, M.D., Ph.D. Internal Medicine		Research in Dr. Chaudhary's laboratory focuses on the signal transduction by the members of the Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor (TNFR) Family.  Joanna is working on employing a PCR based cloning strategy to silence gene expression by small interfering RNAs.
Richelle Thomas Townview Science & EngineeringMagnet High School, Dallas Host: Diana Tomchick, Ph.D. Biochemistry		Dr. Tomchick's laboratory is a UTSW core lab that collaborates with researchers on campus to illucidate the three-dimensional structure of proteins and protein complexes using x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).  In addition, they employ a variety of biophysical techniques, combined with the power of mutagenesis studies, to investigate static and dynamic aspects of regulation, enzymatic mechanism, protein-protein interactions, and drug design. Richelle is studying other methods of crystallizing many different proteins.
Anne Gan Texas Academy of Math & Science Student Hosted By: Keith Wharton, M.D., PhD. Pathology & Molecular Biology		Research in Dr. Wharton's laboratory focuses on how the principles of pattern formation might help to better understand and treat human diseases such as birth defects and cancer. Anne is working on finding the mouse tissues in which members of the Wnt and Fzd gene families are expressed.
Michael Navarre William High School Student Hosted By: Dean Smith, M.D., PhD. Pharmacology		Research in Dr. Smith's laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular and cellular basis of odorant detection and recognition. They are utilizing the relatively simple chemosensory model system, Drosophila melanogaster, to understand the basic principles of chemosensory transduction and information processing in order to gain insight into more complicated systems like our own.  Michael is working on measuring the electrophysiology of Drosophila using different repellants and attractants.
Jake Raju Jesuit College Preparatory Student Hosted By: Spencer Brown, PhD. Plastic Surgery		Research in Dr. Chao and Dr. Brown's laboratory focuses on advanced wound healing and tissue regeneration.  Jake is studying the ratio of cytokines and urea near wounds in the body.
Maria Szczepaniak Martin High School Student Hosted By: Robert Dobbins, M.D., PhD. Internal Medicine, Endocrinology		Research in Dr. Dobbins' laboratory focuses on diabetes.  Maria is working on measuring the glucose levels in rats.
Ming Zhi JJ Pearce High School Student Hosted By: Maureen Finnegan, M.D. Orthopaedic Surgery		Research in Dr. Finnegan's laboratory focuses on the investigation of subjects related to the medical discipline of orthopaedics.  Ming is testing bone graphs to see which are most effective in new bone growth.