Of Mice and Monkeys

Shoeb Lallani is a recent graduate who majored in Neureoscience and Behavioral Biology and Chemistry. He was awarded a Spring 2017 Independent Grant which he used to conduct research on Huntington's Disease under Dr. Anthony Chan. 

Hello! My name is Shoeb Lallani, an undergraduate senior at Emory, and I work in the Chan lab at the Yerkes Neuroscience Primate Research Center. I began researching under Dr. Chan as a sophomore in college and have continued to do so ever since! When I first began research, I watch others perform their experiments and learn from them. I also spent a lot of time reading research articles related to Dr. Chan’s field of study. As more time passed, I became more comfortable in the laboratory setting and started to do some work of my own.

I spent a long while in the lab before I found the project that I was really interested in. I worked on many different projects, from with establishing cell culture lines to slicing and immunostaining mice brains. Switching between so many projects was frustrating and I started to believe that basic research was not for me. However, I eventually found a topic that I was really fascinated by, and it is what I do now. Finding this niche reignited my passion for research. I also began to appreciate more the other techniques that I had learned earlier and better understood their importance. I began my current project during the summer of 2016 as part of the SURE program, which allowed me to devote 40 hour weeks to really commit to my research. 

My current project examines the neuropathology of interneurons in Huntington’s disease nonhuman primate models. As part of the project, we extracted the brains of two Huntington’s disease monkeys and one wild-type monkey. We froze and sliced the brains into thin sections and immunostained them for the marker that is unique to each subpopulation of interneurons. We then used stereology to count the number of marked interneurons in the striatum, the region that is most severely impacted in Huntington’s disease, to determine differences between the Huntington’s disease model monkeys and the control monkey. We also measured the changes in striatal volume between our two monkey groups. I am continuing this work as part of my senior honors thesis.

Working in a lab was not as I had expected it to be, especially at the beginning. It was a lot of busy-work to begin with, and a lot of learning, not just from mentors in the lab, but also from reading background literature. However, all the time and effort was worth it. I am thoroughly pleased with the amount of material that I have been able to learn in such a short time. It is also rewarding to use material that is taught in college courses in a real-life applications. I have also met a lot of great people from my lab that are as interested in research as I am. My lab has always been friendly and welcoming, and I enjoy having this social group to interact with.

As I continue my research, I look back and appreciate all the time and hard work I put in during my first year researching to prepare me for the independent project that I am currently working on. It was frustrating at the time, but the tedious work has made me a better scientist and a more intelligent academic. I encourage everyone to get involved with research, just to see if they are as intrigued by it as I am. Research has been one of the best experiences I have had at Emory, and I hope to continue research as part of my career.  

Visit the Undergraduate Research Programs website to learn more about applying for Independent Research Grants.