Vincent Cheng: Working with Rats BACK

Published by AFAR

My first several weeks in the MSTAR program have been an amazing introduction to the field of geriatrics. On my first day, my mentor at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Care Center, Dr. Jeremy Walston, explained the basic causes of frailty in older individuals and how his lab investigated components leading to this outcome. I appreciated Dr. Walston taking the time out of his busy schedule to explain the reasoning behind the different projects in his lab and how these would help improve our understanding of frailty.

During my first few weeks as an MSTAR student, I learned new lab techniques, such as working with rats for the first time. In a project studying the effects of a rapamycin diet in rats, I worked with other investigators on designing a treadmill training program to test muscle strength. On the first day of training the rats, my fellow investigators and I discovered that many of the rats were reluctant to begin walking on the treadmill. The lab director suggested that the rats disliked walking towards a dark wall and lacked a sense of direction. Thus, we placed a piece of white paper at the distal end of the treadmill and were delighted to find that, following this modification, the rats were much more eager to use the treadmill. It was a wonderful example of how an insightful yet simple intervention could significantly affect the efficiency of an experiment.

Working with rats has been exciting in unpredictable ways as well. During one of the trials in our experiment, one of the rats pushed the glass covering on the treadmill and escaped! My co-investigators and I quickly secured the area or, in layman’s terms, slammed all the exit doors as fast as possible. Despite this sudden twist in our plans, I am happy to report that my colleagues and I were able to retrieve the rat unharmed…and the rat was unscathed as well. I realized that, even in an unexpected event, one can learn important lessons in becoming a skilled researcher. In this case, I learned that there are often unseen challenges in an experiment. My colleagues and I were sure to rectify this minor oversight by weighing down the glass covering in future trials.

Vincent Cheng
University of Kansas School of Medicine

 

"Diary of an MSTAR Student" follows scholars in the 2011 Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program, highlighting their summer experiences. As they continue their path of research, training and clinical practice, read their daily thoughts at www.afar.org/mstarblog. New diary entries are posted every day, so check back soon.