13 Jun Anna Countryman | BNI | Week One

Cacti are everywhere

Happy Summer everyone! After my first week at Barrow Neurological Institute, I can say with confidence that these next few weeks are going to go by so quickly. I’m interning in the Stokes lab, under Dr. Stokes. When just doing computer-based work, I share a desk space with 3 girls interning with the labs near mine. Last Friday, we had orientation where I got to meet the 13 other high school interns and get to know the program. I was shocked to find out that there had been almost 400 applicants! On Monday, my first official day, there was a social where we also got to meet undergraduate student interns from all over the country — anywhere from ASU to Johns Hopkins to Princeton — and eat donuts. Although it was an adventure to get out to Phoenix, with some car trouble and adjustments (but don’t worry, everything worked out perfectly!), this week has been a perfectly paced introduction to the city and the field of neuropsychology.

Monday and Tuesday were mostly spent on getting all necessary certifications to participate in any lab work or data analyzation. These included almost 30 different lessons and quizzes on topics like ethics, reporting data or concerns, and human-based research. I completed a course that granted me Level 2 Safety certification in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), which is the highest level of safety clearance. During that first part of the week, I was also given a copy of an unpublished study currently under peer-review from my 

BNI!

mentor’s lab. It was pretty complicated and difficult to read, but I took the time to thoroughly understand the content and it was very interesting. The program is also providing us with seminars to learn about new innovations and diseases. The first one was based on taking all, and any, provided opportunities in the field and, more specifically, how a few of Barrow’s doctors are part of a continuous clinical trial in which they’re attempting to save patients from glioblastomas (a type of brain tumor), giving the subjects longer life expectancies and better quality of life. The second seminar was on headache neurology, presented by Dr. Kerry Knievel. She also shared her story on how she got to where she is today. I was excited to hear she was also from a rural area of Colorado too! She shared how she influenced the creation of Barrow’s official Headache/Migraine division and grew it to be one of the larger programs in the hospital. As a sidenote: this week, I spent a total of over 30 hours at the facility.

My desk space this week!

On Wednesday, I attended the Lab’s weekly meeting, where I got to hear what each member is currently working on. There, I got to learn more about what my project would likely be based on. As it turns out, it’ll have to do with the unpublished study I was given on Monday. The study is an investigation of how the atrophy of the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain, correlates to finger tapping variability (FTV) compared to the deterioration of total brain volume. The atrophy of the corpus callosum is often associated with neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s. Measuring precise motor function through FTV can give insight into a subject’s coordination, self-directed motor speed, and the integrity of efferent motor pathways. In the study, FTV is measured via the Halstead Finger Tapping Test. This test tends to be less stressful than standard cognitive testing on older subjects. It also allows for wider generalizability since it isn’t reliant on a specific language or education level. I cannot yet specify any data or findings from the study, but it was very interesting and I’m excited to get more involved. I spent Thursday studying the previously written article more thoroughly and doing research to gain an even deeper understanding. 

Movie Night!!

As you can probably imagine, Phoenix in the summer is super hot! Despite this, or maybe because of it, most buildings are kept well-air-conditioned, to the point where most of my lab mates wear jackets. Outside of work, I spend a lot of time indoors. At my host family’s house, we play very competitive card games (which I’m slowly improving at) and I sometimes watch movies with my host family sister. Also, I found volleyball open gyms at a high school 15 minutes away, so I went last Sunday and met a bunch of new people. It felt strange to play with a group where I didn’t know a single person, but it was great! Although, that gym may have been the only building in Phoenix that wasn’t really air conditioned whatsoever. At Barrow during lunch, some of the grad students from my lab have taken me under their wing and invited me to eat with them, which I’m grateful for as well. I’m so excited to take a more hands-on role at BNI in the next few weeks and get to know everyone better. Follow along! It can only get more and more interesting as we go!