CVM Hosts Its First SURE Students from Snow College, BYU-Idaho

The College of Veterinary Medicine recently hosted two students through the Summer Undergraduate Agricultural Biotechnology Research Experience (SURE). The program is open to students from institutions with limited biotech research opportunities and places them in a laboratory for 10 weeks under the supervision of a dedicated faculty mentor.

Georgia Tombarge is a junior biology and applied lab science student at BYU-Idaho who applied for the program in part to further her interest in toxicology and genetics, which she developed through lab work at her home institution. At USU, she worked with Professor Ralph Meyer on his research about how age affects male reproductive health, specifically the impact of falling levels of a particular coenzyme on sperm health and the offspring they create. She extracted the coenzyme from mice, stained slides, examined them under a fluorescent microscope, and analyzed the images with software. While Tombarge and other students in the program received some initial training, they were soon able to become full members of the lab.

“We had both independence and interdependence,” she said. “We knew what was expected of us for the greater project, but it was still up to us to figure out how to make that happen. Everyone had their own role in the lab and their own part of the project.”

Laynie Bergstrom, the other SURE student in the CVM, attends Snow College in Ephraim, Utah and is currently completing the credit requirements to apply for vet school. She participated in Associate Professor Heloisa Rutigliano’s research on how bovine embryos and placentae signal each other to allow for implantation during pregnancy.

“We took cell cultures of the tissue that becomes the placenta of the unattached embryo and cultured it,” said Bergstrom. “What I did was confirm that we’d identified the right cells, which are called trophoblasts. We also performed an experiment where we tested out different mediums for the cultured cells to see if they would turn from one kind of cell into another, which told us if they could function at least somewhat like placental cells.”

The work in the lab also offered Bergstrom a close-up view of USU’s Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.

“The new four-year program seems like it’s going to be amazing, and I was working with people who were writing the curriculum for it,” she said in reference to Rutigliano, who is also associate dean of academic programs. “It’s amazing to be right there next to it.”

Seeing the research done at the college also made Bergstrom realize that veterinary medicine offers more career possibilities than she’d realized.

“It really gave me a love for science,” she said. “I still want to go to vet school, but it made me realize I could pivot since a lot of people I worked with went to vet school and then either practiced for a while or went straight into research. It helped me see that I might want to do that, too.”

In addition to gaining hands-on experience with a faculty mentor in their lab, students in the SURE program receive on-campus housing, a stipend for living expenses, weekly seminars on critical scientific skills, and the chance to go on educational and recreational field trips. Tombarge appreciated the opportunities the program provided to meet other students.

“Establishing a community here both in and out of the lab was a highlight for me,” she said. “During my normal routine in Idaho, I tend to keep to myself, so it was nice to change things up. I was living in a building with a bunch of other interns that were here for the summer, and they were all from different states and countries. It was nice to see outside of the fishbowl I usually live in and learn from their experiences.”

When asked what advice she’d give students in the program, Bergstrom recommended starting it with a plan.

“Be sure to log your hours, and come up with a research plan early in the program so that you can focus later The summer went really fast, and I wish I’d started on my actual research earlier so that I could have had more time for trial runs and gathering data before presenting my work.”

Tombarge encouraged students to apply even if they don’t feel like they have the best chance of acceptance.

“Honestly, just give it a shot,” she said. “You know, I didn’t expect to get in. There were four SURE interns this year, and for a while, I didn’t understand how I was one of them. I say work as hard as you can on your application, and if you do get in, just give it your best shot, whatever that looks like.”

The SURE program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, and the deadline for applications is typically around the start of March. Visit the Center for Integrated Biosystems education website to apply or contact Associate Professor Aaron Thomas at aaron.thomas@usu.edu for more information.