Undergraduate Admissions

A local Gannon University student participated in a prestigious 10-week, research-based internship administered by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

The student, Shane T. Lavin of Latrobe, completed the internship this past summer. Lavin is the son of William and Renee Kemerer and is a graduate of Greater Latrobe Senior High School.

He is a senior pre-medical/biology major at Gannon with a minor in psychology.

Lavin worked under the direction of Dr. Caroline Burns at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Cardiovascular Research Center. His research consisted of two projects involving zebrafish stem cells.

The first was designed to test the effects of certain chemicals on the fishes’ cardiac cells. Previous studies had shown that certain chemicals can affect the expression of various stem cell populations. Lavin’s research group hypothesized that the particular chemicals used in the prior studies would also modify the expression of cardiac stem cells.

The second project studied the coagulation factor 8 in the hearts of zebrafish in order to determine its function. Lavin performed a technique known as “antisense morphilino injections” with early-stage zebrafish embryos. The injections allowed his research group to then monitor the zebrafish for heart-related defects.