Med students show off their research

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Students at the UB medical school don't just learn how to practice medicine - they also have a chance to advance research.

Dozens of UB medical students presented their research to each other and to the faculty on Tuesday. Some of the projects used very sophisticated techniques, such as identifying a potential way to target tumor cells.

Med student Anthony Bejjani said, "If we find that there is a key difference - one protein that's there and not in others - then we can find out a treatment which is based off of differentiating the cells and making them not able to grow any more."

Some used novel manipulations of clinical tests, such as a project where MRI scans were used to discover whether the enlargement of a brain tumor is due to the production of new blood vessels in the tumor.

"If we can stop that growth by stopping the blood vessels from growing, then we could potentially shrink these tumors and, you know, maybe stop the progression of this disease," explained student Ashley Conway.

And some are aimed at improving office practice. For instance, there are several conditions that can cause a stuffy nose.

"The treatment that we use for those patients is vastly different," said student Saied Ghadersohi, "So an allergic patient would be receiving allergy testing and maybe desensitization to the allergens they have, whereas a chronic sinusitis patient would be given steroids, maybe referred for sinus surgery."

His group is developing a rapid test that can make a diagnosis.

"We can just stick it in a patient's nose and maybe within a few days or maybe even immediately be able to tell what kind of stuffy nose this patient has," said Ghadersohi.

While they're becoming physicians, they're also improving the practice of medicine.

Conway said, "It's important to have a clinician's perspective and also the perspective of a scientist."