This August, 14 Colby-Sawyer students, alumni and faculty presented research findings at the 2018 New Hampshire IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (NH-INBRE) Annual Meeting. Supported by an Institutional Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, INBRE promotes the development, coordination and sharing of biomedical research resources within 24 states. NH-INBRE is a partnership among eight institutions, including Colby-Sawyer, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the University of New Hampshire.
Nursing major Hannah Goepel ’19 of Manchester, Vt., was among seven students selected to present research to the 200 meeting attendees. Goepel, who participated in the NH-INBRE Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (ISURF) in Nursing at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, presented “Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS): Nurses Perceptions of Care Management and Assessment Tools.” Through her research, Goepel explored nurses’ perspectives on caring for infants with NAS using two assessment tools, concluding that use of the Eat, Sleep, Console tool opens up the richest dialogue between nurses and caregivers, though barriers and challenges to the tool may need amendments with nursing input.
“INBRE provided a variety of experiences that some nurses may not have during an entire career in nursing,” Goepel said. “With the support provided by INBRE, I designed and completed an entire research project and saw how research applies to the profession of nursing. I have discovered numerous career paths and opportunities for advanced education that I hope to pursue.”
Ben Maines ’18, a biology major from Abbott, Maine, who presented his own ISURF program research on targeted cancer therapies during last summer’s conference, returned as the student and faculty presentation moderator. In addition, Maines and biology major Jacob Feinberg ’20 of Center Barnstead, N.H., participated in this year’s poster session with research on butterfly immune protein and breast cancer cells. This summer, Maines also served as the student coordinator for ISURF before taking a research position with the Geisel School of Medicine’s Ahmed Laboratory.
Additional Colby-Sawyer poster session presentations included two on cancer cell studies conducted by biology majors Feinberg, Hannah Degefu ’20 of Addis Abba, Ethiopia, Mariah McCarthy ’21 of Rutland, Mass., Audra Nordwall ’20 of Harpswell, Maine, Cameron Stephens ’21 of Shirley, Mass., and Associate Professors of Natural and Environmental Sciences Jamie Jukosky and Chery Whipple; a pilot study on the impact of high intensity interval training on resting metabolic rate with exercise science majors Kelsey Allen ’19 of Andover, N.H., and Aspen Dubuque ’19 of Washington, N.H., and Professor of Exercise and Sport Sciences Kerstin Stoedefalke; and research on women’s postpartum responses to electronic messages from nurses by nursing major Jerrilyn Wilson ’19 of Goffstown, N.H., and a faculty member from Saint Anselm College.
Interim Chair and Professor of Natural & Environmental Sciences Benjamin Steele, who represents Colby-Sawyer on the NH-INBRE steering committee, praised students for their contributions to research and evidence-based practice projects.
“Our students did a great job of explaining their research to audience members,” Professor Steele said. “It was a great opportunity for them to get recognition for the many hours they invested. Overall, it was a tremendous initiation into the world of biomedical research.”