The news always seems to be full of warnings about nutritional deficiencies in the American diet: iron, calcium, vitamin D. But outside the United States there lurks a more global, more dangerous issue—zinc deficiency, which can lead to a suppressed immune system and problems with inflammation. Many in other countries don’t have a diet that supplies enough of the essential mineral.
As a part of Goucher’s Summer Science Research Program, Barbara Amann, professor and post-doctoral fellow in chemistry, and student researchers Joel Brandis ’15 and Ashley Cowan ’15 sought to track how zinc functions in human health. The students worked in the lab 40 hours a week, for eight weeks, helping to further Amann’s already-extensive research.
Brandis has personal investment in the investigation. The biology major with a pre-med concentration has arthritis in his right hand. The research could lead to a better understanding of inflammation and a more effective drug could be developed to reduce or eliminate inflammation due to the joint disorder.
At a more immediate level, the work brings Brandis one step closer to medical school. But, if the summer research opportunity doesn’t eventually get him into the program he wants, “Doing research shows me there are other things I could do with my major,” Brandis said. “There are other interesting things, other ways I could help progress the medical world.”
Graduate school is also on Cowan’s horizon, and her work in the lab has helped give her more direction. The experience as a whole hasn’t hurt, either, according to the biology major. “When grad schools ask me, ‘Have you done research before?” I can actually say, ‘yes.’” 
Amann said it’s nice to see students realize that the work they have done in classes has turned out to be a necessary ingredient for success in the lab.
The two students agreed. “Things we’ve kind of touched on in class, now we get our hands in it,” Brandis said. “It’s different being in a class with 15 people; this is basically one on one … . It’s definitely made me more confident in my lab skills.”
Brandis and Cowan are two of 23 students working with 15 faculty members during the 2013 Summer Science Research Program at Goucher. Undergrads work with professors on research in biology, chemistry, mathematics and computer science, physics, and psychology while living on campus and being paid a stipend.
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