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Angelica Patino’s enthusiasm for science and art has earned the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology freshman biomedical engineering student a unique summer research opportunity at
Northwestern University’s Summer Internship in Neural Engineering (SINE).
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Enthusiastic About Neuroscience: Angelica Patino, a freshman biomedical engineering major at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, will be part of a select group of undergraduate students
researching neural engineering this summer at Northwestern University. |
Patino will be among a select group of undergraduate students participating in an intense research experience to understand the neurophysiological implementation of motor coordination in the
spinal cord. The program, starting on June 22, is supported by a Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) award from the National Science Foundation.
Northwestern’s SINE program identifies, trains and nurtures the development of future investigators who plan on using engineering applications to study neurologic disorders. A small group of
specially-selected students from throughout the country will work together at the Sensory Motor Performance Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and in Northwestern’s Department of
Biomedical Engineering and Physiology.
Specifically, Patino will help Matthew Tresch, assistant professor of joint appointment with Northwestern’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, in examining how spinal
interneuronal systems pool together the muscles in the appropriate balances and temporal sequences underlying basic behaviors. Researchers will identify spinal interneurons which might be involved in
the coupling of different motor pools during behavior. These experiments involve intracellular and extracellular recordings of neurons in in vitro preparations during the production of behaviors,
combined with anatomical and functional studies of these same neurons.
“I’m constantly looking for things that challenge me. My philosophy is ‘If you like it, do it’,” says Patino, an Indianapolis native and daughter of registered nurses, Bernardino and Celine
Patino. “I hope to explore the divide between neural interactions and human experience, how neural injury deters experience, and what can be done to remedy such damage. This is what draws me toward
neural engineering research through SINE.”
Patino will also participate in a weeklong educational conference on the neural sciences through the Illinois Summer Neuroscience Institute (ISNI) at the University of Illinois on May 26-29
before preparing for Northwestern’s REU program. In the future she plans to pursue a medical experience in neurology in the Philippines, her family’s native country.
Ironically, Patino’s favorite book is Jonah Lehrer’s “Proust Was a Neuroscientist,” which examines how writers, painters and music composers discover truths about the human mind that science
is only now discovering. The book combines her interest in the science and arts –- an aspect that Patino accentuated in her REU application. She plays the piano, likes reading, paints, and is an
amateur photographer.
“I’m enthusiastic about neuroscience. It is what brought me to studying biomedical engineering at Rose-Hulman,” Patino said. “I’m delighted to get this opportunity (Northwestern REU) at
this early stage in my undergraduate education. Hopefully, my fascination and involvement in neuroscience will evolve through this experience.”
At Rose-Hulman, Patino is a member of the Engineers Without Borders and Asian Society of Engineers & Scientists student organizations, and has assisted in research at Rose-Hulman’s Ultrashort
Pulse Laser Laboratory, supported by the U.S. Navy Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Program.
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