Jim Heidings has always loved science and research. He remembers as a child watching scientists on TV working in the lab, wearing their white coats and doing 麻豆精品 S渃ool 麻豆精品 S research.

Sixty-one new graduate students begin programs at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences this week, including 17 doctoral candidates and 42 master 麻豆精品 S檚 students.

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Today, as a budding scientist, he researches actin, a protein that allows cancer cells to metastasize or spread with hopes of finding a new anti-metastatic drug.

Heidings, who begins his master 麻豆精品 S檚 degree in biotechnology this fall, is one of 61 new graduate students who begin programs at the this week.

The group includes 17 doctoral candidates and 42 master 麻豆精品 S檚 students who, with the mentorship of faculty, will do research in areas including infectious diseases, neurosciences, cancer and cardiovascular/metabolic diseases.

Two students are enrolled in a joint M.D.-Ph.D. program that will prepare them to become physician-scientists.

Six students are enrolled in a new program this year 麻豆精品 S a master 麻豆精品 S檚 in integrated medical sciences, designed to prepare students who want to go to medical school or enter other health professions. The program allows students to take two first-year M.D. program courses along with graduate school courses.

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The new students come from a range of backgrounds聽including biomedical sciences, psychology, exercise physiology, environmental health and statistics.聽 They are from 14 countries including Germany, the聽Philippines, Japan, Egypt, Libya and Peru, and also represent 14 states. Many hope to go on to medical school or pursue careers in dentistry, veterinary medicine, environmental health and pharmaceutics.

The students were welcomed with a weeklong schedule of orientation activities that included a research colloquium featuring 66 poster presentations from current graduate students.

Trina Rudeski-Rohr is one of two new students who will be doing the joint M.D.-Ph.D. program. She joins her husband, Michael, who is also in the joint program, entering his third year. She previously earned a master 麻豆精品 S檚 in biotechnology at UCF, where she researched age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as glaucoma and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig 麻豆精品 S檚 disease.

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Many students, such as Sakina Miller, are excited about the opportunity to do research for the first time.

麻豆精品 S淐oming to this colloquium and seeing all the different posters and research really piqued my interest and has me thinking about a lot of things I want to do research on, 麻豆精品 S says Miller, who will study metabolic and cardiovascular sciences in her master 麻豆精品 S檚 program. 麻豆精品 S淚 麻豆精品 S檝e always been interested in fetal and maternal health and would love to do research on health disparities in outcomes in different races. 麻豆精品 S