Researchers in the making:
Sounding out health research
A grade 11 student spends the summer studying how the brain processes sound.
Story by Connie Bryson
For Zac Cookson, HYRS (Heritage Youth Researcher Summer program) was an opportunity not to be missed. Once he heard about the program's hands-on summer research experience from his physics and chemistry teacher at County Central High School in Vulcan, Alberta, he was eager to apply.
"I've been interested in science and math since elementary school," says Zac. "But I knew nothing about research. I saw HYRS as a great opportunity to learn more about what I could do in science."
HYRS is a program for exceptional Grade 11 students who have at least an 85% standing in grade 11 math and sciences. They work in a research lab at a provincial university, where they learn about the research world and potential careers in this field.
Zac, who is now in Grade 12, spent six weeks working in the lab of Dr. Artur Luczak, an assistant professor at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN) at the University of Lethbridge. The CCBN is known internationally for leading-edge brain research. Dr. Luczak is interested in understanding how neurons (nerve cells) in the brain coordinate their own activity.
"When we listen to a person talk, our ears pick up the individual sounds and each of those sounds evokes a burst of activity in the auditory cortex [the part of the brain responsible for processing sound information]," explains Dr. Luczak.
"My research is aimed at finding out more about this burst of activity. We've already found that some neurons are only involved at the start of the burst. They seem to be sending a 'wake-up' message to the cortex. The neurons involved later on seem to be responsible for more precise, sound-specific information."
Dr. Luczak says that, while this is very basic research, it could have long-term applications for people who have auditory nerve damage. In the future, it may be possible to stimulate parts of the auditory cortex to give these people the perception of sound. "But before we can do that, we need to know how the neurons in the auditory cortex work together," he notes.
The experiments use state-of-the-art technologies to record signals from hundreds of neurons from the brains of rats. With no previous experience, Zac learned a programming language called MATLAB, which allowed him to program a computer to send sounds at a particular frequency and for a specific duration. Another part of the experiment measured the rats' response to tactile (touch) stimulation, and Zac helped build a specialized cable needed for these tests.
"I was impressed with how quickly Zac learned," adds Dr. Luczak. "He was the perfect student for my lab—Zac has good quantitative and analytical skills and is not afraid to do hands-on work like soldering. I hope we provided a good window into the kind of work we do."
Zac, who is contemplating going into aerospace engineering at university, says HYRS completely changed his perceptions about research. "I didn't know that medical research could involve the kind of work going on in Artur's lab. I was expecting to put on a lab coat every day and work with pipettes. HYRS was a great experience."
The best summer job ever
Heritage Youth Researcher Summer (HYRS) program
AHFMR's HYRS program provides opportunities for outstanding Grade 11 students to spend six weeks doing hands-on research in the labs of top health and biomedical researchers at the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, and University of Lethbridge. Students are paid $1,680 over the six-week period.
For more information on the HYRS program go to www.ahfmr.ab.ca/HYRS