Charlotte Hadley
Research Mentor: Lam Tsoi
Mentor Department: Dermatology / Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, Medicine
Author(s): Not Available
Session: Session 2 (10:00 AM – 10:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 122
Abstract
This project aims to better understand how keratinocytes affect skin itching and different types of itching. The methods that are used to investigate this project are differential expression analysis and literature review. Differential expression analysis looked at gene expression within different keratinocytes that have been stimulated by cytokines. It evaluated whether the gene within the keratinocyte was up or down regulated. Literature review was done to better understand current research on keratinocytes and their relations to itching, both chemical itching and nerve interactions. This research hopes to find links between certain genes within keratinocytes that affect itching and different types of itching. These findings could give more insight on what genes cause itching in patients with various dermatological conditions where itching is a common symptom. By better understanding what is causing the itching and what type of itching is caused by different genes within keratinocytes can be better linked to different skin conditions. This UROP project gave me insight into how genetic research is done and what methods are used in biostatistics. I was able to gain hands-on experience with Linux and R and helped me expand my knowledge in statistics and biology.
