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For Release: August 11, 2011
Contact:
David Corriveau 603-653-1978 david.a.corriveau@hitchcock.org

DMS students travel Down East to study molecular mechanisms of human disease


Bruce Stanton, PhD, oversaw Dartmouth contingent's research in Maine

SALISBURY COVE, ME—Under the guidance of Dartmouth microbiologist Bruce Stanton, PhD, four students from Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) spent the first week of August researching triggers of human disease at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL).

Students studying personalized medicine, cystic fibrosis, and the contribution of the immune system to disease during the intensive laboratory course were Elizabeth Barton, Nathan Eikhoff, Kaiane Habeshian, and Nicole Vilardo. In addition to Stanton, DMS' Andrew C. Vail Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Dartmouth faculty collaborating in the course included Brent Berwin, PhD, an associate professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and Elizabeth Stanton, JD, director of regional risk management at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC).

"It is not often that medical students get the opportunity to work intimately with faculty and other medical students in a relaxed, supportive, and beautiful place like MDIBL," said Barton, who recently completed her first year of studies at DMS. "The technical skills I acquired have surely enhanced my understanding of research targeted at human disease."

Other faculty and medical students participating in the course, funded by the National Center for Research Resources came from the medical schools of the University of Vermont and the University of New England.

Among his duties at Dartmouth, Bruce Stanton is principal investigator for the Lung Biology Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE). He described the DMS contingent's experiences at MDIBL as a way "to enhance students' understanding of scientific principles and knowledge, as well as to conduct hands-on research to understand how current medical knowledge is obtained and evaluated."

-DMS-

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