Wellesley College
106 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02481
dim@wellesley.edu

Hello! I am a senior, majoring in Neuroscience with a minor in Women's Studies. I chose Wellesley because of the ample research opportunities that Wellesley provides for its undergraduate students. I knew I would be able to continue expanding my research experience at Wellesley by really getting to know my professors in a nurturing environment. Wellesley did indeed meet my expectations. Immediately upon arriving at Wellesley College as a first year student, I expressed my passion in research to Professor Tetel, who gladly accepted me to join his research team.

Ever since joining the Tetel lab, I have worked on studying how hormones act in the brain to regulate gene expression and behavior. For my senior thesis project, I am developing a pull-down assay using sub-cloned mouse steroid receptors to examine the interaction between steroid receptors and coactivator proteins from the female mouse brain. Eventually, I hope to identify the key molecules involved in ovarian hormone-receptor mediated gene expression in brain. My research has been funded through an Endocrine Society Research Fellowship, which also provided funding for me to present my research at the 2008 Endocrine Society Conference in San Francisco. I also collaborated with Mackensie Yore (’08) on our previous project, which we presented at the Society for Neuroscience Meeting in 2007.

In addition to investigating the molecular mechanism of neural disorders, I am interested in studying how social factors construct our health. Wellesley’s interdisciplinary approach has allowed me to connect my major, Neuroscience and my minor, Women’s Studies, to merge my passion in clinical and social medicine.  This summer, I worked in Guatemala to evaluate how congenital defects are detected, diagnosed, and treated at a governmental health clinic that oversees 180 rural villages. By immersing myself in these impoverished communities and interviewing the local women and their healthcare providers, I have gained a broad perspective of maternal and infant health—often times inevitably shaped by the social and economic structures of our society.

After Wellesley, I plan on pursuing a degree in public health and attending medical school to become a physician scientist (M.D. Ph.D.). By conducting research and working with patients at the same time, I hope to bridge the gap between researchers and physicians to effectively deliver applications derived from research discoveries to patients. I also hope to dedicate my career to promoting justice (health and human rights) and serving patients in need.

I love traveling and learning about different cultures. My recent destinations include Mexico (medical mission trips to Tijuana with Healing Hearts Across Borders), Israel (volunteering with Save a Childs Heart), and Guatemala (internship with The Guatemalan Project). After graduation, I hope to revisit El Triunfo, Guatemala, to carry out a community development project, “Proyecto Doctoras,” which will provide ten girls with full middle school scholarships. These girls will be trained as community health workers (“little doctors”) to promote empowerment, dignity, and solidarity among 1,500 residents of their village. Traveling has allowed me to develop my interest in black and white photography. Visit my photo blog.

PUBLICATIONS
Abstracts:
Im, D., Yore, M.A., Chadwick, J.G., Tetel, M.J. Steroid receptor coactivator-2 (SRC-2) from rat brain interacts differently with estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor subtypes. The Endocrine Society, 2008.
Yore, M.A., Im, D., Chadwick, J.G., Tetel, M.J. Steroid receptor coactivator-2 (SRC-2) from female rat hypothalamus and hippocampus interacts differently with the progestin receptor isoforms. Society for Neuroscience, 2007.
Tetel, M.J., Molenda, H.A., Yore, M.A., Im, D., Chadwick, J.G., Steroid hormone action: From the test tube to the brain. International Congress of Neuroethology, Vancouver, Canada, 2007.
D. Im. Roles of Auxotrophic Markers in Candida albicans Virulence. Bulletin on Southern California Science. 2005 Aug; 104(2); 64.
D. Im., Y. Suzuki, J. Litvin. Expression of Periostin-Like-Factor in Loaded and Unloaded Human Hearts. Journal of Association for Academic Minority Physicians. 2004 Oct; 15(1): 20.

BASIC RESEARCH EXPERIENCES:
Fall 2006-Current: Neuroscience Program, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
Senior Thesis Candidate - Student Researcher
Advisor: Marc Tetel, Ph.D.
Research sponsored by the Endocrine Society Summer Research Fellowship Award (08), Sherman Fairchild Foundation Summer Research Award (08), Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Grant (Summer 07), and NSF-AIRE Sophomore Early Research (07-08)
- Determined the ligand-dependent physical interaction between progestin receptor (PR-A and PR-B) and SRC-2 from the female rat and mice brains using pull-down assays and western blotting.
Summer 2006: Rosetta Inpharmatics (Merck and Co. Inc), Seattle, WA
Summer Intern
Advisors: Michele Cleary, Ph.D. and Jill Magnus
Research sponsored by Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP)
- Induced downregulation of E2F1 gene in HeLa breast cancer cell line using RNAi techniques (siRNA and shRNA) and profiled gene expressions of affected proteins in the E2F1 signaling pathway.
Fall 2004-Spring 2006: Infectious Diseases Division - Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Torrance, CA
Volunteer Researcher
Advisors: Scott G. Filler, M.D. and Hyunsook Park, Ph.D.
Research sponsored by Southern California Academy of Sciences (SCAS)
- Observed the virulence factors of Candida albicans to identify URA as one of the crucial auxotrophic markers in affecting the virulence of the organism.
- Mutagenic analysis of the cytochrome P450 14α-demethylase (CkCyp51p) to azole drug resistance in Candida krusei by using Saccharomyces cerevisiae model that was subjected to point mutations. 
Summer 2004 & Summer 2005: Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology - Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
Summer Intern
Advisor: Judith Litvin, Ph.D.
Research sponsored by Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP)
- Investigated the expression of Periostin-Like-Factor (PLF) on cardiac myocytes from loaded and unloaded adult hearts.
- Observed the effects of PLF on hypertrophic growth of cardiac myocytes.

CLINICAL EXPERIENCES:
Summer 09: Municipal of Gualan Governmental Health Center, Zacapa, Guatemala
Summer Intern
The Guatemalan Project and the Ministry of Public Health and Services (MSAPS);
Advisors: Cecilia Campoverde, Ph.D. and Maria Eugenia Portilljo, M.D.
Research sponsored by Susan Rappaport Knafel ’52 International Internship Fund
-  (1) Assess the quality and accessibility of antenatal care provided by the governmental health center that oversees 50,000 residents dispersed throughout rural regions; (2) Identified common birth defects in the region, (3) Analyzed maternity demographic patterns using past birth records; (4) Developed permanent database system to assess the needs of pregnant women visiting the clinic; (5) Interviewed women in a rural community to identify barriers to antenatal care

Summer 08-Present: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
Research Assistant
The Active Malformation Surveillance Program, Teratology;
Advisors: Lewis Holmes, M.D. and Angela Lin, M.D.
- Conduct interviews with the mother of each newborn diagnosed with a congenital malformation to gather information about pregnancy, family history, prenatal testing
-  Summer 09 Project: Investigating the association between different Turner Syndrome types and congenital heart defects

January 09: Save A Child’s Heart (SACH), Holon, Israel
Full-time Volunteer—SACH Children’s Home and Wolfson Medical Center
Sponsored by Wellesley College Travel Grant
- (1) Lived in the SACH Children’s Home to supervise children brought from developing countries to Israel for life-saving surgery for their congenital cardiac defect; (2) Assisted children during their surgery and other pre- and post- operation procedures at the Wolfson Medical Center