Summer Doesn’t Mean a Break from Research

Studying Lymphoma, One Hypothesis at a Time: A Cancer Research Journey

Visiting undergraduate scholars in the Duke PRIME Cancer Research Program spend eight weeks embedded in active research at the Duke Cancer Institute, moving past textbook theory into the day-to-day mechanics of how discoveries get made. It's demanding work, and it matters more than ever: pediatric and adolescent cancer cases have risen over the past decade, a trend researchers attribute partly to environmental factors rather than genetics alone.

Colleen Bauer, program manager at Duke’s Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination office, said the program's real measure shows up after the summer ends. "The most rewarding part has been seeing where they go next," Bauer said. "Getting to check in with them and hear, 'I couldn't have done this if I hadn't had my opportunity at PRIME Cancer' – that's thrilling."

Ruhi Roy is one example of that trajectory. A biochemistry and biostatistics senior at UNC Chapel Hill, Roy spent last summer as a PRIME scholar and returned this year as a near-peer mentor, continuing to conduct research while also guiding incoming scholars through the program.

She works in the lab of Dr. Stefanie Sarantopoulos, a James B. Wyngaarden Distinguished Professor of Medicine and professor of integrative immunobiology in Duke’s Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy. Roy is studying lymphoma with her direct mentor, new faculty member Dr. Fahmin Basher. She is looking at how a breakdown in the immune system’s normal signaling allows cancer cells to grow unchecked. The lab’s broader work spans several related blood cancers, a reminder that findings from one type of cancer often transfer to another.

A typical day blends literature review, mentor meetings, hands-on experiments and lunchtime talks from oncologists and Ph.D. researchers on topics such as how cancer develops and spreads. That structure is designed to not only teach scholars lab techniques but also how to think through a scientific question, something Roy said only became clear once she was inside it.

"Eight weeks really frames your perspective of how science works," she said. "It is very slow, but really understanding the pre-work, the planning, the hypothesis, the theory behind it, is so important. Every experiment I run, I'm asking myself: ‘Okay, how does that contribute to my overall hypothesis?’ Last summer I was kind of just testing and experimenting. This summer I'm being very intentional."

Beyond the Textbook: Students Learn How Health Policy Really Works

At the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, student researchers including undergraduates are trading textbooks for policy briefs. In the process, they’re discovering the complex systems behind healthcare. Students Caitlin O'Reilly and Tanya Sachdev are part of this summer's Duke-Margolis Summer Experience, tackling issues ranging from international child health to domestic Medicaid access.

For O'Reilly, a global health and public policy double major, the internship has reframed how she thinks about health systems. Her international child health project pushed her to move past theoretical frameworks and ask not just what could help, but what can realistically be implemented across countries with different resources and approaches.

Sachdev arrived with a global health background rather than a policy one but quickly found her footing through a project on Medicaid access. The topic became personal through her work last summer in rural North Carolina, where she witnessed firsthand how coverage gaps left communities behind.

“Duke-Margolis brings together faculty and students from all across the university, and we collaborate with a wide network of external partners and policymakers in N.C., DC and beyond,” said Hilary Campbell, faculty director of the Summer Experience program and Area Lead for Institutional Research and Analytics at Duke-Margolis. Campbell sees this multidisciplinary approach as central to the program’s mission to prepare students to solve complex, real-world problems.

The Duke-Margolis Summer Experience is made possible through the philanthropic support of Dr. Robert J. Margolis, whose investment in Duke's health policy infrastructure has opened research doors for students across disciplines. "It's definitely a place where you see real-world change happening in front of your eyes," said Sachdev.

Big Claw, Tiny Crustacean: A Weapon Built for Speed

Dulichiella appendiculata are tiny amphipods, crustaceans barely the length of a grain of rice, but the males carry an outsized weapon: a claw that makes up more than 30 percent of their body mass. This summer, undergraduate researcher Ellery Lei turned a microscope on these small creatures to figure out how their claw works. Lei conducted this research in the Patek Lab, a Department of Biology lab led by Sheila Patek, well known for studying mantis shrimp and snapping shrimp.

Using new high-speed cameras capturing up to 200,000 frames per second, Lei documented amphipods shooting water jets at around 13-16 feet per second as the claw snaps shut. The claw closes nearly as fast as a fired bullet.

“When the claw snaps shut, it’s moving fast enough that it’s right on the edge of causing cavitation, the same destructive bubbles you see in snapping shrimp strikes. But somehow, most of the time, these amphipods don’t trigger it,” Lei said.

Damage from this cavitation process is a real headache for engineers who design turbines and propellers, and an animal that can move quickly without triggering cavitation is worth a closer look. It’s also a reminder of the sometimes-surprising benefits of exploratory research, the kind of study that can seem random at first but ends up pointing toward real engineering solutions.

Getting there requires patience and perservance. Amphipods are so light and fragile that Lei had to design custom equipment just to keep them stable and alive long enough for a micro-CT scan. A separate rig syncing high-speed and standard video cameras allowed the team to record half-hour contests between amphipods to study how and when the claw is actually used.

Duke’s T-SUMR funding made the work possible by covering summer housing and living costs. “T-SUMR doesn’t really care if you’re an international student or a domestic student. They give funding to everyone,” Lei said. “That’s huge, because international students don’t always have access to opportunities like this.”

Modeling Immunity: Using AI to Simulate the Body’s Fight Against Disease

How does the human body fight diseases such as influenza, HIV and the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)? A team of students in Duke's Data+ Program is spending the summer building virtual models to find out using Claude Code, an AI coding assistant, to help build and manage their simulations faster.

Led by Ph.D. student and project manager Bobby Ni, of John Hickey’s lab in Duke’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, the group is building virtual tissue simulations spanning three diseases.

Gary Jin is modeling early-stage influenza infection in the lungs using an agent-based approach. Laith AlSenan is extending that framework to HIV and EBV, two viruses that affect the body in very different ways.

Arnav Dhar is supporting the team’s work behind the scenes, developing a Claude Code harness that consolidates the lab’s emails, calendar and data into a single searchable knowledge base, automating literature review and manuscript drafting.

The stakes are concrete. “Within the U.S., about 30,000 to 50,000 people die from influenza every single year,” Ni said. “Even a one percent improvement, that’s hundreds of lives each year.”

That same principle, small gains carrying big consequences, shows up in AlSenan's work with EBV, which can cause mononucleosis with severe complications. “Once you turn 30, almost 90% of all adults have EBV, it just doesn't activate. So being able to model the disease can help develop ways to treat it and help people who have it to actually live normal lives,” AlSenan said.

Beyond the science, the fellows say the program has sharpened how they collaborate, give and receive feedback, and use AI tools responsibly, skills they expect to carry into graduate school and future research careers.

Mapping Risk: Connecting Radon, Housing and Health Across NC

At Duke’s Climate+ Program, a team of undergraduate researchers is spending the summer untangling how environment and health intersect across North Carolina and the country.

Working with Duke’s REGAL Lab and Duke University School of Medicine mentors, students are compiling county- and census-level datasets on air quality, housing density, poverty, and radon-related policies. Students Lindsey Nguegang, Olatomi Gabriel and Moses Cho are supported by their project manager, Ivy Geng, REGAL team principal investigator Tomi Akinyemiju and mentorship by several REGAL team members: Drs. Oyomoare Ozasuwa-Peters, Hugo Quezada Pinedo, Ashwini Joshi and Andrea Thoumi.

The team is analyzing environmental and health data to identify where climate-related hazards and radon exposure overlap and what that overlap might mean for the communities living there – particularly historically underserved populations. Students are also building a policy database to compare radon regulations across states and local jurisdictions.

The project's impact is personal for some researchers. “I wanted to be part of a project where it can lead to a real tangible impact,” said Cho, whose interest in radon research was shaped by his mother’s cancer diagnosis.

“I’ve always loved green spaces in well-designed urban areas, and there’s a lot of research that goes into understanding how those spaces really serve communities, both environmentally and socially,” said Gabriel, who is pursuing landscape architecture.

Their findings will contribute to a manuscript intended for policymakers and public health leaders. “We’re hoping to disseminate it to policymakers to hopefully then enact change,” said Nguegang, a pre-med student on the team.

Through Climate+, students are gaining experience in data analysis, visualization and policy research while exploring how environmental factors shape public health outcomes. Mentors described the students’ work as foundational to future research initiatives and potential grant-funded projects.

Learn more about how federal funding supports the next generation of innovators on Duke Research Saves Lives.

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This reporting project was part of the Charmaine McKissick-Melton Communications Fellowship.