The best of both worlds
By Eleni Kanavas
A passion for athletics combined with a curiosity about the human body and an interest to help people medically led Jessica Chin to pursue her studies in neuroscience research. As a fourth-year undergraduate student in a co-op program at the University of Waterloo, Chin returned to Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) this summer to complete her final co-op term with the same researcher who hired her two years ago.
Dr. George Mochizuki, a scientist in the Brain Sciences Research Program at SRI, is Chin’s supervisor. Mochizuki’s research is focused on developing strategies for reversing the changes that occur in neuromotor control of movement after someone has had a stroke. His research lab is located in the Neurointervention Centre within the Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics at SRI.
“He’s very supportive and willing to give me more responsibility on this project, [and] being able to publish a paper is really nice. A lot of my research has been within neuroscience, the brain and motor execution, so it was a good fit with the project that he was offering me,” says Chin, 22, who is completing an honours bachelor of science in kinesiology.
Chin’s project aims to identify the unique spectral characteristics of motor preparation, which is the period of readiness to execute a specific movement. This involves processing environmental cues to generate an appropriate response. Chin is using electroencephalography, more commonly called EEG, to measure what happens in the brain of healthy patients and look at the anticipatory period before a cue when motor preparation takes place. The goal is to understand how environmental cues affect the way people prepare to respond.
“A rewarding part of my project was being able to look at my research and understand the importance of the theory toward developing future studies. And the greatest part was that ‘Eureka!’ moment when you understand why you are doing what you’re doing, and that makes writing the manuscript much more purposeful,” says Chin, who is one of 25 students in the D+H SRI Summer Student Research Program at SRI.
She is preparing a manuscript for publication and describes the writing process as challenging.
“It’s a lot more difficult trying to think of original ideas to write down; oftentimes, I’m reading papers. There’s a lot of writer’s block. But George is really great with helping me structure how to get my ideas down on paper. So I’ve been following that, and it’s been helping a lot,” she says.
Translating lab research to the clinic is quite interesting, says Chin, who describes her previous co-op terms in both environments as having the best of both worlds.
Earlier this year, she worked at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, where she assisted with collecting and analyzing data related to balance and gait in individuals after stroke. The clinical work involved doing a fitness program with stroke patients, while the research looked at motor learning skills in stroke patients and how different learning strategies might help them learn faster.
During her co-op term in the Mochizuki lab in 2012, Chin spent four months investigating a new exercise regimen coupled with botulinum toxin A, also known as Botox, injections toward rehabilitating spastic limb function in post-stroke patients. Chin also learned how to use all of the equipment and helped do electrophysiological and clinical assessments, as well as electromyography and EEG data collection and analysis.
Having worked in three different labs since her first co-op term, Chin has gained a different perspective of research.
“A misconception I had before about theoretical compared to clinical research was that it was less applicable and therefore less gratifying. I struggled finding motivation in previous projects where I couldn’t easily see the clinical applications,” Chin says.
Looking ahead, she says her future pursuits are still ‘up in the air,’ with a lot of decisions to be made. “The plan for now is to look at going into physiotherapy, but I’m also open to possibly continuing a master’s program and seeing how I feel about research after this term.”
Her advice to undergraduate students looking for summer placements in clinical research: “Don’t be shy or feel that you can’t email someone you don’t know because that’s how I first met George,” she says. “I randomly emailed him [and said], ‘I read about your research. I’m interested. Here’s my resumé.’ Don’t be afraid, and really put yourself out there.”
Chin is also the recipient of a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Undergraduate Student Research Award and a Merit Scholarship from the University of Waterloo.
