WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY STUDENTS INTERN AT
CLEVELAND CLINIC RESEARCH LAB

Student Research Seeks to Contribute to Medicine’s “Translational Research”

HUDSON, Ohio – Three Western Reserve Academy students interned this summer at the Cleveland Clinic’s Learner Research Institute. Joseph Marmerstein of Beachwood, Ohio, Sarah Foster of Ashland, Ohio, and Oliver Curtiss of Hudson worked with renowned researcher Dr. Vincent Tuohy in his lab which is part of the Clinic. Under the guidance of Touhy and Reserve science faculty member Robert Aguilar, the students worked on research that seeks to make contributions to the practice of medicine sometimes known as “transitional research.”

“If students can see that science is alive, meaningful, and if we can immerse them in this culture, it will change them forever,” said Tuohy, an adjunct faculty member at Reserve.

This is the second year that Reserve students have interned at the clinic. The program – now dubbed the WRA Cleveland Clinic Molecular Research Internship – became formalized after last summer’s successful test year. The internship is a for-credit course designed to expose students to a hands-on research experience in a state-of-the-art National Institute of Health-funded laboratory involved in cutting-edge research on a variety of immune-related human diseases.

Currently Tuohy is working on a prophylactic vaccine that has succeeded since 2002 in keeping female mice from developing breast cancer.

“I really appreciated the opportunity to work with scientists who were working on goal-driven research,” said Foster, who was paired with a researcher investigating the breast cancer vaccine. “Seeing work like hers, which has the potential to do so much good, adds a whole new dimension to science. It is very different than simply doing projects in a classroom just for the sake of seeing how something is done.”

Each student was formally partnered with a post-doctoral researcher who supervised day-to-day work. “We were made to feel like active and integral members of the staff,” said Curtiss. The intimate research experience may have influenced Marmerstein’s future. “I had not considered a career in medicine before this internship,” he said. “However it is a huge possibility now.”

Aguilar has been a part of the science faculty at Reserve since 2006 and is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in regulatory biology with a specialization in molecular medicine through Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Clinic.

Tuohy, who was honored this year with Reserve’s Knight Fellowship, also teaches at the Lerner College of Medicine. He earned his own lab at the Clinic following an initial breakthrough in Multiple Sclerosis research. His lab is receiving $1.3 million to further fund his cancer research.

Founded in 1826 and located in historic Hudson, Ohio, Western Reserve Academy is a private, mid-sized coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9 to 12. Reserve draws its 385 students, attending from 24 states and 23 countries, for its fine academic, art and athletic programs, and for the school’s commitment to a set of fundamental values: excellence, integrity and compassion. Reserve’s online media gallery is available at www.wra.net.