Student Teams Compete in IMPACT

Authored By: mknutson 05/09/2019

IMPACT Students

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three student groups from the University of Minnesota Rochester had the opportunity to compete against other undergraduate students from Minnesota this past April for a researched solution to a presented health problem.

IMPACT: Innovative Minds Partnering to Advance Curative Therapies is a program that gives undergraduate students the opportunity to engage in novel hypothesis generation to address real-world health questions alongside Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Health System scientists and physicians.

Selected student teams presented a poster at the 2019 Symposium at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

The following UMR student teams were selected to present at the 2019 IMPACT competition:

  • Bailey Onken, Gabrielle Jordahl and Savannah Mosier (faculty sponsor Andrew Petzold)

  • Tan Ngo, Chidiogo Orakwue, Zamzam Shalle and Getachew Hundera (faculty sponsor Rachel Olson)

  • Anab Mohamed, Subban Hassan, IsraAddani and Khansaa Maar (faculty sponsor Peter Larsen)

Juniors Bailey Onken, Gabrielle Jordahl and Savannah Mosier presented on Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), receiving a three-way tie for “Best Poster.” Their hypothesis was that HLHS occurs due to the presence of antibodies in the maternal immune system which attacks proteins causing improper fetal heart development and looping.

Despite all the research Onken and her group did before the conference, she was impressed with how much more she was able to she learned while at the conference. “IMPACT represented a community of individuals coming together to try and solve a health issue that we were all passionate about,” said Onken.

“I’m very proud of the work my IMPACT group has done,” said Andrew Petzold, professor at UMR’s Center for Learning Innovation and faculty sponsor for the group. “They were very motivated to ensure that their project was well thought out and practiced. Their hard work was evident in both their preparation and presentation. I hope that they have gained an appreciation for the challenges that are faced by researchers and that there are often many approaches to solving a problem.”

UMR is proud to have had students participate in IMPACT every year since 2016.