A Whole New World of Research

Monica Vemulapalli is a junior majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. She was awarded a Spring 2019 Conference Grant which she used to attend the Experimental Biology Conference.

When I found out that my first ever research conference was going to be in my hometown of Orlando, Florida, I was excited! I knew that having an unfamiliar event happen at a very familiar place would make me less anxious. However, the conference turned out to be less stressful and more interesting than I ever thought. I attended Experimental Biology (EB) and   presented my very first research poster, a memory that I will definitely cherish forever.

Before the conference, I submitted my abstract and was honored to be selected as one of the recipients of the Barbara A. Horwitz and John M. Horowitz Outstanding Undergraduate Abstract Award. EB is an international conference and this award is given to 30 undergraduates affiliated with the American Physiological Society (APS) from around the world. The recipients of this award are then eligible to compete at the conference for an “Excellence in Undergraduate Research” Award. I was fortunate to be given this opportunity to present my research to a panel of experts from the APS who judged the impact of our research, the quality of our poster, our presentation skills and our ability to answer questions. I was overjoyed when my name was also called to receive the Excellence awardfor my poster presentationtitled “Sympathetic and Cardiovascular Responses to Device Guided Slow Breathing Depends on PTSD Severity”. 

         I completed this project in the Human Physiology laboratory of Dr. Jeanie Park here at Emory. Our laboratory explores how device-guided slow breathing (DGB), or essentially lowering respiratory rate to about 5-6 breaths per minute can help to decrease heart rate, blood pressure, sympathetic activity, and increase parasympathetic activity in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD patients have a high risk of hypertension and other heart problems. The sympathetic system (fight or flight system) as well as the parasympathetic system (rest and digest system) play a great role in regulating blood pressure daily. Therefore, by reducing the effect of one system and increasing the effect of the other, hypertension can be prevented in PTSD.  My project found that using this nonpharmacological treatment (i.e. DGB) produces greater effects/benefits in veterans with severe diagnosis of PTSD than those with a moderate diagnosis. The severity of PTSD was established by a trained psychologist. 

The two awards I received at EBwould not have been possible without the amazing mentorship I received in the lab.  I practiced my presentation a couple of times in front of my PI, Jeanie Park MD, my mentor, Ida Fonkoue Ph.D., and the rest of the lab and received valuable feedback. In addition, my mentors gave me great advice and guided me every step of the way leading up to the conference. I couldn’t have asked for a better team than the Park lab! 

This conference was memorableon many aspects. First, when I arrived at the Convention Center in Orlandothe day of my poster presentation on April 7^th, there were hundreds, if not more, people around me trying to find their assigned board to put up their poster. It was overwhelming! It really sunk in that I was at an international conference. People were coming from all over the world to present their research here. Second, during my judging session, I presented my poster to judges who were all friendly and looked intrigued by my research, but I mean who wouldn’t be! Third, I was honored to have my picture taken by a member of the conference press because they found my research interesting and wanted to do a press release on my project (which they did! See link below). Fourth, I also presented my poster during a special undergraduate poster session where around 200 posters were displayed. It was at the end of this undergraduate poster session that the winners of the Barbara A. Horwitz and John M. Horowitz Outstanding Undergraduate Abstract Award, and the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award were going to be announced and acknowledged.Fifth, I had the amazing surprise of presenting my research toDr. John Horowitzhimself (see first picture below).Towards the end of the undergraduate session, I was explaining my work to a man who stopped by my poster, without paying attention to his nametag. When I finished explaining, my mentor Ida Fonkouewho had been watching us, asked him if she could take a picture of him and I. That’s when I realized that I had been talking to the great Dr Horowitz himself, the person that the awards were named after, and I was astounded! 

Finally, the time came for the awards to be presented. The round of 30 abstract awards went by and I was called to receive mine. It was not a stressful moment since the awardees were known before the conference. I really got nervous when they started announcing the recipients of the Excellence award, because no one knew who the 15 undergraduates were, as they were chosen by the judges after the competition. When I heard and saw my name on the screen, I couldn’t believe it! As I walked up to receive my award, I felt a sense of gratitude and happiness because I was so grateful that my first conference turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life, way more than I ever anticipated!

Even though getting the awards were the highlight of my conference, the whole experience from traveling with a huge poster tube, to meeting new people, to presenting my research, made attending EB unforgettable. Going to a research conference opened my eyes up to the world of research in a new way, because it’s not always about spending countless hours doing data analysis or wet lab work, I mean most of time it is, but it’s also about interacting with different people in other fields and talking with them about how cool science really is! 

Science Daily Press Release: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190407144213.htm

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