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Three-dimensional images of muscle cells in a zebrafish embryo allow researchers to compare fast muscle cells (in red) with slow muscle cells (in blue) to determine the number and the amount of specific proteins required to repair defective muscle. Image courtesy of Clarissa Henry

Researching the role of fibronectin

Molecular biology and biochemistry major Chelsi Snow wanted to pursue a career in the natural sciences because it was the most expedient and obvious way to contribute to society.

"Everyone has, directly or indirectly, been touched by congenital disease," says Snow, who will be starting her fourth year as an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Clarissa Henry. "Cancer and cardiovascular and neuromuscular diseases affect the patients, as well as their families and friends. This is why I am particularly interested in scientific laboratory research with direct and clear applications to human disease."

Snow coauthored a recent paper, submitted for publication to the journal Developmental Biology, investigating the role of the protein fibronectin in the growth of muscle cells. Her role in that project helped her earn a Barry Goldwater Scholarship for undergraduate research. Snow is one of only 300 students nationwide to receive the scholarship, which will fund the next phase of her project.

"Muscle cells normally have a certain limit or boundary that they grow to, but we observed cells that went beyond those boundaries in the absence of the fibronectin protein," says Snow. "I want to see what might be going on in the extracellular matrix that influences cell invasive behavior and how this protein plays a role in growth."

Snow will use the zebrafish research techniques pioneered by Henry to develop a new line of zebrafish that break down fibronectin at an increased rate, offering new insights into the role the protein plays in cell growth.

This summer, Snow also will work with scientists at the Mount Desert Island Biological Research Laboratory in Bar Harbor, just as UMaine's other Goldwater award recipient this year, Benjamin Burpee, did in 2006. Both Snow and Burpee are participants in the Maine IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, an organization affiliated with the National Institutes of Health. The goal of the network is to strengthen Maine's capacity to conduct competitive biomedical research.