Senior to Continue Study of Neurons with NSF Fellowship

by Sue Angell

MAY 21, 2003--Flash back to high school biology class, and the image of a neuron under a microscope--the axon, dendrites, nucleus, and plasma membrane all perfectly preserved on a slide. Aaron Kerlin '03 has spent many hours studying these cells, hoping to discover how they transport information within themselves. Kerlin's research has earned him a National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellowship to Harvard, where he plans to pursue his doctorate in neuroscience.

Kerlin began his research on campus with Professor of Neuroscience Dennison Smith, and continued it off campus at Albany Medical College and the Oregon Health and Sciences University.

"After my junior year, I spent the summer working in a lab that specialized in protein transport within neurons," Kerlin says. "I studied individual neurons and the proteins they produced to define the cellular mechanisms responsible for distributing the necessary proteins to specific areas of the neuron."

Jan Thornton, associate professor of neuroscience, sat on Kerlin's honors committee. The presentation he gave left her with confidence in his future.

"Aaron did a wonderful job of bringing together literature from a number of different fields," she says. "He is developing into an excellent scientist."

The experiences Kerlin had as an undergraduate will help him as he begins to plan his research projects at the graduate level.

"I'd like eventually to concentrate on learning and memory," Kerlin says. "Learning occurs when neurons change in response to different activities at the cellular level. For example, neurons play a key role in the formation of our long-term memories by forging new connections with other neurons. To make these connections, called synapses, specific proteins need to be made available at the positions along the dendrites where the synapses are formed. Protein transport can be a stepping-stone to larger issues of brain function."