Janiece Vancil 

Abstract: Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and its fibrotic stage Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) are increasing in prevalence globally, which has prompted research into its progression. Lipid accumulation occurs in the early NAFLD stage of ​Simple Steatosis that leads to lipotoxic injury of hepatocytes. Accumulation of these apoptotic cells leads to inflammation and fibrosis, the hallmarks of NASH. During Simple Steatosis, there is also an increase in activity of Triggering Receptor Expressed in Myeloid Cells 2 (TREM2)-expressing macrophages and upregulation in TREM2 expression, followed by a decrease in expression once the liver has progressed to the NASH stage, leading to the hypothesis that TREM2 plays a role in slowing the progression from steatosis to NASH, and that TREM2 is inhibited at the inflammatory stage. Investigation of the livers and macrophages of wild-type and Myeloid TREM2-Knockout Mice fed a NASH-inducing diet revealed that when TREM2 is absent, cell clearance is impaired, leading to the accumulation of apoptotic cells and the rapid progression of NAFLD from steatosis to steatohepatitis. Further investigation showed that inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL1-β play a role in TREM2 inhibition and impede apoptotic cell phagocytosis.

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​What does research mean to you? 
Research is a way to explore the world’s mysteries and gain insight into the way everything works. When you conduct research, you are essentially an explorer of a microscopic world, learning new things every day in hopes of gaining some answers to the endless questions that come to mind as you learn more and more.   
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Tell us about your journey.
My interest in a science-focused career began not long before I began college. I had always liked my science classes and the challenges that came with them and wanted to make an impact on others with my strengths in the sciences. I took my first neuroscience class fall of my sophomore year after thinking the description sounded interesting, and was immediately drawn into the subject matter, ranging from classical conditioning and Piaget’s development stages to lesion studies to the different types of neurodegenerative diseases to even the vast array of neurons and glial cells that inhabit the central nervous system. I soon took other biology and chemistry courses and became thoroughly invested in not only the subject matter, but the contributions of these topics to the field of medical science and pathology. I particularly fell in love with the field of immunology. From hematopoiesis to apoptosis, the cascade of events that occur to keep people on their feet fascinates me. I could talk for hours about the immune system and get lost reading articles about it for similar time stretches. 

After learning what I had from these classes, I knew I wanted to learn more about research and get involved. I looked up UTD labs and explored the plethora of choices, looking into the lab mission statements and some of their literature. I came across the Thorn Motor and Habit Lab, and was recruited into a welcoming lab with people who taught me about the research process and showed me that I was really interested in making a career out of this research thing. Enter the Green Fellowship, which allowed me to immerse myself further into research, without the weight of other academic obligations. My time in the program confirmed that I truly love research and want to help people through my enthusiasm for the field. I will continue to move forward in pursuit of my MD./PhD, and find contentment knowing that I have chosen a life where I will never stop learning. 

What was your favorite part about the program? 
The program allows you to see the true day-to-day happenings in a research lab, and you are able to learn and be there for every step of every procedure for a particular experiment, from data collection to analysis. It is a great way to see if a research-intensive career is a good fit for you.   

​​What was the biggest thing you learned from the program? 
I learned that it’s okay to ask questions and not know everything, and the inevitable mistakes and setbacks are usually redeemable. I also learned to act on my curiosity more, asking to try things, and voicing my ideas more often.    

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Advice for Future Green Fellows

• If you’re even a little interested in research, or if you just like science (or a particular field of science you want to know more about), apply to the Green Fellowship! 

• Practice reading scientific articles and reviews. Reading papers will be a good skill, plus it can help you further pinpoint the field or topic you want to study.  

• Bring a notebook with you on your first day and over the next weeks take notes of the things your mentor is doing. Ask questions of anything you’re unsure of.  

• If you’re a freshman or sophomore, join a lab to see a small glimpse of what research is like. Read into their literature to make sure they’re studying something you actually like. 

• Explore the science fields to see if any unfamiliar topics spark your interest. I didn’t even know I liked neuroscience until I took a neuro class, and now I’ve made it my entire life.  

• With practice, the lab procedures can be mastered. So many of the procedures I learned seemed overwhelming and daunting the first week, but by the end I was able to do them with hardly a glance at the procedure (I still like to have it next to me just in case, though.) 

• You will probably be the youngest, least knowledgeable, most clueless person there in the beginning, and that’s okay! By the end you will have learned a lot 

• Email me! I’ll answer your questions as best I can