Summer researchers: Four students look for new clues to autism
Summer research gives you the opportunity to move from the theory you encounter in your studies to research questions that do not yet have answers. This summer, several summer researchers have worked in Maryam Ardalan’s research group, contributing to the search for biomarkers for autism.
Each student has worked on an individual research project, with projects designed to complement one another. Together, they are investigating different risk factors that affect brain development and exploring how those factors may be linked to biological changes that could eventually make earlier detection of autism possible.
Prarthana Paudel, a pharmacy student, is investigating how a viral infection early in life affects brain cells believed to play a role in social behavior.
Pharmacy student Lamar Alashaal is also studying how inflammation early in life affects brain development, but with a focus on a different risk factor: bacterial infection.
“It’s exciting to try different methods while contributing to something bigger. Each project is small, but together they help us better understand autism. We also get to work with people from different countries and backgrounds,” she says.
Jamal Najjar, also a pharmacy student, is working with human brain tissue from an international brain bank to investigate whether changes in astrocytes could serve as future biomarkers for autism.
“We learn a lot of theory in our courses. Here, I get to see how scientific knowledge is created. It gives me a much deeper understanding of what we’re learning,” he says.
“The students aren’t working on practice exercises. They’re tackling real research questions that we don’t yet have the answers to. They also spend time reading scientific literature, which helps them understand how their own work fits into and builds on what others have already discovered,” says Maryam Ardalan.
For medical student Ellen Åkesson, summer research has marked the beginning of a longer research journey. She is studying how inflammation during fetal development affects brain development and, after completing her medical degree, will continue in the research group as a doctoral student.
“The best part is that you learn something new almost every day—new methods, new ways of thinking, and new ways of viewing conditions such as autism in terms of how they affect both the body and the brain, rather than focusing solely on the brain,” she says.
Several of the students have returned after taking part in summer research in previous years, and some have chosen to continue as doctoral students. Maryam Ardalan has previously received the Research Supervisor of the Year award from Studenter i Forskning (SiF).
Text: Elin Lindström
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