Cassandra Avila

My name is Cassandra Avila and I am a senior at Ventura High School.  During this past summer I participated in the Apprentice Researcher internship program at UCSB.  My project was completed in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the laboratory of Dr. Patrick Daugherty under the guidance of my mentor, graduate student Tyler Shropshire.  The focus of my project revolved around trying to develop a more efficient means of treating Alzheimer’s disease.  Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the aggregation of amyloid beta peptide, a string of 40 to 42 amino acids that tends to aggregate in the brain.  This aggregation leads to neuronal cell death and the eventual hallmarks of the disease: decreased cognitive function, dementia, and in the later stages extreme mood swings and episodes of violence.  Alzheimer’s disease currently has no treatments that have been shown to slow progression of the disease or improve symptoms over the long term.  Data from my internship suggested that there exists a molecule capable of limiting aggregates caused by amyloid beta and thus could be possibly used as a future therapy for the disease.  I learned a lot during my internship including how dedicated one has to be to overcome the frustration of getting results from experiments that aren’t what you had hoped for. I had a lot of fun and I learned so much from so many I would do it all over again if I could. I hope to major in biology in college and eventually work in some aspect of medical research or health care. A future plan of mine is to apply to the St. John's regional Medical Center Red Shirt pipeline it's a program for high school students intersted in health care.