2013 ACC-IAC Scholars

Timothy Lee, a first-year student, received an ACC-IAC award to build a robotic arm, capable of painting with a paintbrush. He will first study the human hand’s movement as it paints and also observe the DaVinci robot’s hands as it performs medical surgery. After these two studies, Lee says, “I plan on creating a robotic arm that can paint as smoothly and as precisely as possible. I hope this project can give me some background and insight on biomedical engineering and medical applications with robotics. I also hope that my project can convey to people the idea that the Sciences are intertwined with the Arts.” Lee’s mentor is Associate Professor Craig A. Hamilton of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Wake Forest University, School of Medicine. Timothy Lee’s Biography.

Click here to read Lee’s ACCIAC Report.

Alisha Giri, a double major in Anthropology and Health and Exercise Science, received ACC-IAC funding to do comparative research of the manifestations of gender differentiation among Buddhist devotees in Nepal. Alisha willobserve the differences in the daily lives, the living facilities, and the variations in chanting and meditation practices of ordained nuns and monks in the Buddhist culture. She will study not only gender in Buddhist culture, but also investigate the different ways that meditation and chanting can be used to relieve tension and anxiety during stressful times. Her mentor is Dr. Steven Folmar of the Anthropology department.

Click here to read Giri’s ACCIAC Report.

Dineth Bandarage and Andy Vuong are testing the combinatorial effects of plant-derived substances on tumor inhibition in mice infected with Sarcoma 180 cells. They plan on having two controls: a negative control, which will receive 0.9% saline solution, and a positive control, which will receive 2mg/kg of doxorubicin (DOX) injected intraperitoneally every other day. The compounds they are testing are curcumin, found in turmeric, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), found in green tea, and proanthocyanidines, found in grape seeds. By using a combinatorial approach, they hope to describe the interactions between the mechanisms of curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, and proanthocyanidines. The results may suggest whether the compounds interact synergistically or antagonistically, which could affect the diet of a cancer patient. Dineth’s and Andy’s mentor is Dr. Zheng Cui, Professor of Pathology-Tumor Biology, Wake Forest University, School of Medicine.

Click here to read Bandarage and Vuong’s ACCIAC Report.