Grace Moore

Green Fellows project abstract:

Prdm12 is a transcription factor that regulates the development and expression of nociceptors in the peripheral nervous system. When mutated, as in Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, affected individuals lack nociceptors and are unable to feel pain. Preliminary data suggests that Prdm12 may also play a 
role in determining the regeneration capabilities of peripheral nerves.  To determine whether Prdm12 is required for axonal regeneration and cell proliferation in the adult, we used a mouse model of adult Prdm12 knockout. The sciatic nerves of control and knockout mice were crushed and analyzed by histology for axon regeneration, and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) were analyzed for markers of cell proliferation or death. Additionally, we sought to determine whether Prdm12 is required for the proper development of the nociceptive pathway by using a model of Prdm12 knockout in the embryo, before nociceptors develop. In this model, we also crushed the sciatic nerves to measure axon regeneration, but instead examined the spinal cords and DRG to determine the presence of nociceptors. 

 

We anticipate that the Prdm12 adult knockout mice will display limited sciatic nerve regeneration and proliferation in the DRG compared to control mice. The embryonic Prdm12 knockout mouse is a previously uncharacterized line, which we predict will have a near complete absence of nociceptors and nociceptive pathway neurons in the spinal cord. Our work may indicate that nociceptors have a previously unrecognized role in directing axonal regeneration and cell proliferation in the adult, supporting Prdm12 as a promising target for pain and regenerative therapeutics.

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​​What does research mean to you? 

Research is of particular interest to me because it’s quite literally the process of creating knowledge. It’s a systematic way of generating information from novel, creative ideas that point us toward a greater understanding of our world. This is all just a fancy way of saying that I think research is really cool. There’s truly no other job like it.

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Tell us about your journey​!

I’ve known almost my entire life that I wanted to do research as a career. I’ve been quoted as saying that I wanted to grow up to be a “doctor who discovers medicine” at age seven, before I even knew the word “research”. My interest never faltered, but I didn’t get my first research experience until I came to college. I joined Dr. Ted Price’s lab during my first semester at UTD, and my suspicions were confirmed: I loved research. My work was halted in March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began, but by the Fall, I started up again on a project I could work on remotely. The work I did from my laptop in my apartment over the course of lockdown won me the Goldwater Scholarship in March 2021. I spent Summer 2021 researching at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and my work at this institution yielded a paper that is currently under peer review. I came back to Dr. Price’s lab in the Fall, finally in person again, and applied for the Green Fellowship, eager to get back to full-time research. This January I started the Green Fellowship, and the rest is history.

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What was your favorite part about the program? 

This may have been specific to my lab, but I was assigned my own project that no one else in my lab was working on or contributing to. Even in my previous full-time lab experience, most of my work was contributing to a project that many other lab members were involved with. Given that I did come into the Green Fellowship with quite a bit of prior experience, this independence was a great way to push my skills forward. I was at a point in my training that I could handle planning my own experiments, managing my own mouse colony, and attending conferences with my PI. The fact that I was able to get these experiences as an undergraduate is truly invaluable as I progress towards applying to graduate school.

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What was the biggest thing you learned from the program?

Joke answer: research requires SO many paper towels!

 

Real answer: When I got into the thick of my work and had a better idea of my topic and the aim of my experiments, I started to be able to think ahead and consider what my next steps should be, what my data meant, and how I could improve my methods to better suit my goals. Learning to think like a scientist is a slow process, but I felt it very rewarding when I finally noticed my progress.

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Advice for Future Green Fellows

I know that many students do the Green Fellowship to determine whether they are a good fit for a research career. This is a great experience to be able to discover that, but you must be willing to accept if it’s not for you. If you want to really gain something from this experience, you have to put your all into it. I naively assumed that without classes or studying for exams that I’d have free evenings and a lot of extra time on my hands compared to a typical semester, but the reality was that I often spent the entire evening in lab if that’s what it took to get my experiments done. I was almost always the last person to leave my lab every day, and I even stayed until after midnight once when I didn’t realize how long a new experiment was going to take. (Side piece of advice: learn to manage your time better…) 

 

The bottom line is that the more you put into it, the more of a reward it will be to present your work at the end of the semester and to be proud of the long hours you put into doing science. If at the end you find that you really didn’t enjoy yourself, that’s a good sign that research is not the career for you. It’s not a back-up if being pre-med doesn’t work out. It’s not an easy way to get med school paid for. It’s a serious commitment that requires the right kind of person to dedicate their life to being in lab and contributing to the growing body of scientific knowledge. I wish all future applicants the discernment to uncover your true passion.