Fifteen Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences Summer Interns capped their 2016 internship on Wednesday with the annual poster session at which they present the results of their summer of research.

Directed by faculty member Dr. Ryan Olson, the summer internship program had over 125 applicants and Institute faculty selected 15 enthusiastic undergraduates from Oregon or Oregon schools.  The interns attend undergraduate programs at Brown University, George Fox University, Portland State University (4), OHSU, Oregon State University (2), Santa Clara University, University of Portland, University of Washington, Washington State University, Whitman College.

Three posters/presentations were selected as most outstanding by two independent judges:

• Shivam Swamy (Matt Butler Lab) whose poster title was “Reproductive consequences of nonsynchronous circadian clocks” (first place)
• Georgeann Booth (Steven Shea Lab) – Vascular function in obstructive sleep apnea (second)
• Kathleen Daly-Jensen (Mitch Turker Lab) – Measuring cytogenetic aberrations induced by accelerated helium ions” (third)

Institute Director Dr. Steven Shea reflected that all the projects and posters were excellent, and judges Drs. Rick Johnson and Ginger Hanson echoed this point:

• Yvonne Barsalou (Miranda Lim Lab) – Effect of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder on sleep and employment status in veterans
• Todd Carroll (Ryan Olson Lab) – Preparing a toolbox talk mobile marketing campaign for residential construction workers
• Alejandra Garfias (Leslie Hammer Lab) – Gender and reports of injury among nurses*
• Ali Noel Gunesch (Charles Allen Lab) – Cannabinoid signaling and astrocytes in synchrony and entrainment of the SCN
• Julia Khoury (Ryan Olson Lab) – Validity of accelerometer and single-channel EEG for measuring sleep in team truck drivers*
• Sadie Krahn (Doris Kretzschmar Lab) – Exploring Swiss Cheese function and its effect on CA2+ homeostasis
• Eleanor Lagnion (Brad Wipfli Lab) – Pedal stands in sedentary occupations: Feasibility and measurement validation*
• Luke Mahoney (Leslie Hammer Lab) – Experience or beliefs? Correlates of self-reported veteran supportive supervisor behaviors in the civilian workplace
• Mubark Mebrat (R. Stephen Lloyd Lab) – Early-stage drug discovery – Complementary approaches to speed the identification of inhibitors of a DNA repair enzyme
• Natalie Ploof (Brad Wipfli Lab) – Maximizing the effectiveness of computer-based training in commercial drivers
• Austen Suits (Peter Spencer Lab) – Magpi© software for data collection on sleep deprivation from multiple populations simultaneously
• Vivienne Voisin (David Hurtado Lab) – Features for peer-based programs to promote workplace health and safety

Pictures show interns describing their posters to audience members, and reflect the excitement seen throughout the summer and in the poster session.

Three posters (*) were Oregon Healthy Workforce Center research projects.

Several of the interns will continue working in faculty labs on a part-time or full-time basis depending on their graduation status.