Back: Justin Locus, Hadiyah Finney, Robert Haughton, Kerby Dort, Yaakov Saturen. Front: Jaël Ulysse, Fatimah Abdul-Hakeem, Nicole Pickett, Marquita Leonard, Aida Rivera, Ayiasha Pratt, Catherine Small.

The Summer High School Research Internship Program serves minority students who attend high schools or live in Newark and their science teachers. Its goal is to nurture, through hands-on laboratory research experiences, students’ interest in science. Mr. Yaakov Saturen, a science teacher with more than ten years’ experience in the inner city, directs the program. Students begin with a two-week workshop that introduces them to the vocabulary of molecular biology and biochemistry and basic laboratory skills, tools and techniques. They meet PHRI Principal Investigators, who give a series of lectures. After the workshop, each student is assigned to a PI’s lab, paired with a scientist/mentor and spends six weeks working in a research laboratory on his or her own research project. Over the course of the summer, they meet weekly to discuss their projects and each one writes a short research paper on his or her project. They also attend field trips to sites where they can see how medical and other research is being applied for the benefit of society. The Prudential Foundation and the MCJ Foundation have provided support for the Summer 2003 program.

"Before I came here, I didn’t know I really liked science, but once I got here, I liked the challenge. Each day I would get so absorbed that I wanted to keep going with my experiments to see what happened." - Past Student Participant

Summer 2003 Research Internship Participants Program Director: Yaakov Saturen, Jane Addams Vocational HS, Bronx Teacher Participants: Jaël Ulysse, St. Vincent’s Academy, Tatiana Mikhailovsky, East Side HS, Paterson Schools: West Side HS, St. Vincent Academy, University HS, Chad Science Academy, Science HS, St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, Malcolm X Shabazz HS
Student & Class	Mentor	Principal Investigator	Research Topic
Catherine Small Junior	Lidya Sanchez	Issar Smith	Gene expression of enoyl-CoA hydratase in M. tuberculosis
Nicole Pickett Senior	Sung Rhee	Sung Rhee	Virus - Host Cell protein interactions
Aida Rivera Senior	Tao Lu	Karl Drlica	Antibiotic resistance in selected mutants of M. smegmatis
Ayiasha Pratt Senior	Oluwole Tairu	David Perlin	Identifying a glucan synthase gene in the yeast, Candida
Hadiyah Finney Senior	Battouli Salim	Barry Kreiswirth	Occurrence of a virulence gene in antibiotic resistant S. aureus
Marquita Leonard Senior	Muhammad Malik	Karl Drlica	Control of antibiotic resistance in E. coli mutants
Robert Haughton Senior	Ya Ming Qiao	Richard Pine	Cytokine system changes following TB infection
Justin Locus Senior	Juan Robles	David Perlin	Yeast sensitivity to Cancidas, a new anti-fungal agent
Fatimah Abdul-Hakeem Senior	Arti Santhanam	Steve Garrett, NJMS	Effects of stress on gene expression in yeast
Kerby Dort Senior	Will Graff	Vivian Bellofatto, NJMS	Tagging of p57 protein in Trypanosoma brucei
Tatiana Mikhailovsky Teacher	Marcella Rodriguez	Issar Smith	Regulation of Iron Metabolism in M. tuberculosis

Jaël Ulysse, Teacher, Tatiana Mikhailovsky and Yaakov Saturen are developing pedagogical techniques and lesson plans based on the Introductory Workshop. Ms. Ulysse is also designing an Instrumentation Workshop for teachers and observing the Interns in their labs. She will write a report on her observations, for use in planning future Summer Programs.

"Students who complete the program leave with much more than research experience. They develop analytical and critical thinking skills that they can use in all areas of learning and throughout their lives." - Yaakov Saturen

For more information call or write: Public Health Research Institute, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ 07103 Phone: 973-854-3100