Supporting undergraduate student research in Hope Center member labs

About

The Hope Center Scholars program aims to identify promising undergraduate students who are interested in research on neurological disorders, providing financial support for their research and professional development.

The Hope Center is pleased to partner with the NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) uSTAR program at Washington University, a minority-focused undergraduate training program that seeks to increase diversity in PhD and MD-PhD programs nationwide by supporting students in their junior and senior years. Special thanks to Jim Skeath for connecting the Hope Center with the MARC uSTAR program.

For inquiries about the Hope Center Scholars Program, please contact the Hope Center.


John Jachimiak

John is an undergraduate at Washington University studying biology with a focus on neuroscience. In the future, he hopes to bridge the gap between under-resourced communities and medical resources. His research focus is in exploring the proteomics underlying neurodegenerative diseases in phenocopied animal models and investigating protein interactions that generate pathology. As a Hope Scholar, John conducts research in the lab of Chris Weihl (WashU Neurology), where he examines heat shock protein dysfunction leading to Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy D1 and other chaperonopathies.

Ephraim Oyetunji

As an undergraduate student at Washington University, Ephraim focuses on neurobiology, African and African American studies, and religious studies. He aspires to be a physician who employs translational research to combat neurological disorders at the bench and in the clinic. As a Hope Center Scholar, Ephraim is in the Christopher Wells Hobler Lab led by Timothy Miller (WashU Neurology), and studies how antisense oligonucleotides can be used to learn more about how the nervous system’s immune response can influence pathological protein buildup.


Previous scholars

  • MARC uSTAR Program: Abdallah Belhadj, lab of Edward Han (WashU Neuroscience)
  • MARC uSTAR Program: Denye Mickens, lab of Jeanne Nerbonne (WashU Medicine)
  • MARC uSTAR Program: Derrick Ogola, lab of John Cirrito (WashU Neurology)
  • BiomedRAP Program: Mobolanle Adebesin, lab of Karen O’Malley (WashU Anatomy & Neurobiology)
  • BiomedRAP Program: Jesús Acevedo, lab of Joseph Dougherty (WashU Genetics)