Author: seth.70

Year in Review – Freshman Year

Going into my freshman year, I knew that I would experience major growth, both as a student and as a person. Due to the very rigid Biochemistry major, my first year mainly consisted of pre-requisite classes. Therefore, it was a year of classes where I could gain a solid foundation in both biology and chemistry. While I had to complete these classes for Biochemistry, I began taking major classes for my History double major. These past two semesters, I chose to take an African Health and Healing course, and a History of HIV course. These courses allowed me to expand into a new field that I had previously known little about, African history. While I obviously am no master after two semesters, I now have a general baseline of knowledge about African history, and I hope to add to this by taking more history courses in this specialization.

These classes also sparked my passion for historical research. I was especially intrigued by my African Health and Healing professor’s work. Thus, I began research with the professor, Dr. Thomas McDow. Together, we began a project researching medical students from the University of Bombay’s Grant Medical College in India in the 1860s. This work was done to complement Dr. McDow’s current research on a specific medical student and his travels. I feel that I experienced the most growth as a researcher. Through this work, I searched articles and scholarly books online to gather information about the careers and lives of each individual. This strengthened my ability to look through sources online and figure out details like the purposes and points of view of different works. Using this research, we hope to create either brief descriptions of each student for an article or design a geographic information system (GIS) map that would act as a database to hold the details of each student’s career tracking where they traveled in the world and when. I will continue my research with Dr. McDow over the summer, hoping to complete a majority of the research by the autumn semester.

In addition to historical research, I have also become interested in scientific research. Through the History of HIV course, I became curious about the world of HIV research. Near the end of the spring semester, I began searching for wet lab experiences in this field. Over the summer, I will begin contacting different faculty at Ohio State in hopes of beginning research during my sophomore year. There have also been early talks about beginning a new research project with Dr. McDow and his colleague, Dr. Jesse Kwiek. Dr. Kwiek is a microbiology professor, and this project would be a blend of historical and scientific research. The proposed project would be to read, analyze, or write literature reviews on HIV articles from the early years of the epidemic. This would allow us to gain an understanding of how people thought of the period of clinical latency of HIV.

One other area where I feel I have made major growth is realizing an additional passion of mine: teaching. When I moved to college, I had to halt the ACT prep classes that I taught over my last year of high school. At college, I found that I became interested in helping my friends with their schoolwork. Whether it was helping my friends in the dorm or FaceTiming friends from different colleges, I realized I loved to help others. Originally when we started to propose issues to focus on for our Eminence class service project, I didn’t really think of putting my passion into the project. This is why when we proposed the idea to work on prison education expansion, I was intrigued. I feel that this could be a project with huge potential in the Columbus area. It is also a route in which I can spread my passion by teaching and tutoring students in prisons. I am excited about where this project might lead our Eminence cohort in the future.

Overall, my first year was a year of recognizing my true passions and figuring out how I learn best. I now have a solid understanding of what I hope to accomplish in the coming years and am excited to grow further as a Buckeye.

Year in Review

I was very excited for my second year because of all the opportunities that I have been able to get into. During my second year, I was able to take more of my major classes, and I was able to explore the depths of the majors I chose to take. I took history courses on Britain in the 19th century, warfare in the 20th century, and the American Revolution. In the future, I would like to expand the variety of history courses I take. This year, I also took organic chemistry and the first of my major biochemistry courses. I really enjoyed all of these courses for their own reasons. It was very enjoyable to take a blend of courses.

As of this past year, I am now involved in a research lab. I joined Dr. Amanda Panfil’s research lab which is in the Department of Retrovirology. Her lab focuses on the human retrovirus Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus – 1, or HTLV-1. For this first year of research, I have been performing a number of different tasks for different projects in order to be introduced to basic lab techniques. I have mainly been doing cloning projects. Cloning in the lab involves creating certain strands of DNA that are needed for projects. This allows us to study certain proteins and how they interact with the virus. I look forward to developing my own project and presenting the work at either a conference or in a journal article.

I feel like I have made a huge jump in my historical research with Dr. McDow. At the beginning of the year, I entered all of our data on the Grant Medical College graduates into an interactive GIS map experience. After entering the data, we sent the map out for revisions from faculty members at OSU. In addition, we met with a couple of librarians at OSU to receive feedback on how the map experience worked and more advice on where to go from here. Another big jump we made in this project was applying to the Honors and Scholars Program’s International Research Grant. After a year of research, we have exhausted the current online sources for this project and we would like to look at sources that exist only in person in libraries in the United Kingdom. These would be available through the Indian Office Records at the British Library in London. I applied for this grant in March and in May, we were given the approval for the grant. I am very excited to travel overseas to further this research project and add many more sources to this project.

Another area where we have made major growth is the Eminence class service organization. Over this past year, we have set up our service organization, Project PEER (Prison Education Expansion Project). Project PEER is our organization that provides educational resources to incarcerated students in the Columbus area. We currently serve a number of functions, including assisting in learning communities in local prisons, holding book drives to gather textbooks for incarcerated students, and creating a database of scholarships for the students to pursue after their release. It has truly been a learning experience for both parties through these learning communities. I have learned so much by interacting with the students and it has changed my perception of incarcerated individuals. We are now looking to create our own Project PEER-led learning community. I cannot wait to continue helping out in these communities.

My second year allowed me to further my passions in many areas. I hope I can continue to develop all of these through the opportunities I have been given.

Artifacts

The picture shown is a view of the historical project Dr. McDow and I have been working on. This project has been in the works for over a year and a half now, including the time it took to research all of the individuals and compile their data on a map. This map shows 19 different Indian Medical Graduates from the University of Bombay’s Grant Medical College in the 1860s. The map experience has been finalized, and we are now looking to publish this work as well as some academic writing in a journal article.

Provided here is a link to access and view the interactive map. Feel free to leave comments and feedback on your experience with it! The project is meant for viewers to learn about these individuals and make their own conclusions about Western-educated Indians in British colonial India.

Link to the project: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/806ab204379547c28cae5920c3b5b353/

 

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The following article is a result of research from the scientific lab where I work in. The article looks at an enhancer region of the HTLV-1 genome and how it may lead to a change in viral gene expression. In order to measure these effects, we introduced the HTLV-1 virus with a mutated region of DNA to study its effects without the correct genes. My role in the project was to check if the mutations we introduced were still present after the study was done. This article was published in the Frontiers in Immunology Journals.

Click on the following link to view the article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.954077/full

 

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In August of 2022, I was given the great opportunity to travel to the United Kingdom through the Honors and Scholars Program’s International Research Grant. The purpose of this trip was to further the research of my historical research project on the graduates of Grant Medical College. I travelled to the British Library in London, the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. At these libraries, I collected many different sources that reveal new information about some of the people we are researching. It was also a great learning experience for different culture. This was my first time traveling out of the country and I was able to experience what English culture was like, which gave me an important insight into one partof the project. Attached are some of the pictures of me researching at the library.

About Me

 

Hello, my name is Jaideep Seth and I am a third-year Eminence Fellow at The Ohio State University, as well as a National Stamps Foundation Scholar. Currently, I am studying Biochemistry and History. Ever since I was younger, I have always been interested in science and medicine, and I plan to apply to medical school in the future. Pertaining to medicine, I am not sure what specific career path I would like to settle in, although I could also see myself participating in medical research and obtaining an MD-PhD. History has always been a passion of mine, and I would like to develop my historical skills with research projects during my undergraduate career.

I am currently conducting historical research with Dr. Thomas McDow of the Department of History. Our research focuses on Indian medical school graduates from the University of Bombay’s Grant Medical College during the later 19th century. We have placed the results of this research in an interactive map and experience that shows each individual’s location throughout their lifetime. Through this work, we hope to make conclusions about Western-educated Indians during the British Raj in India. We are now beginning a new project to analyze the early history of Grant Medical College.

Through the Honors & Scholars Center’s International Research Grant, I was able to travel to London and Edinburgh this summer to further this historical research project. In August of 2022, I spent two weeks in the United Kingdom traveling to different libraries to search through archival records pertaining to my project. This was an amazing experience that provided many resources for the existing project and led me to begin a new project.

I am also involved in scientific lab research with Dr. Amanda Panfil of the Department of Retrovirology. Our lab focuses on work with the human retrovirus, HTLV-I. This retrovirus causes a form of leukemia in some affected individuals and is endemic in Japan, the Caribbean, parts of Africa, and Australia. I am currently working on a project to study the cellular oncoprotein, YBX1, that is known to interact with the HTLV-1 viral proteins. Understanding the relationship between these proteins will be key to understanding how the virus replicates and causes cancer.

In addition to my academics, I have also been a violinist in The Ohio State University’s Symphony Orchestra. I have been playing the violin for 10 years and I perform in full concerts and solos, including performances for churches and weddings. In my free time, I love to work out, watch college football and basketball, spend time with my two dogs, and play basketball and football with my friends. Some other minor hobbies that I have picked up over the past years include 3D-printing random objects, solving a Rubik’s Cube, and recording songs for my friend who is an up-and-coming artist.

G.O.A.L.S.

The Honors and Scholars G.O.A.L.S. (Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development and Service Engagement) are a key focus of Ohio State’s honors program. As I navigate my time at OSU, I am thinking about how each of these areas will enhance my education. In my pursuit of fulfilling each of these areas as a double major Biochemistry and History student, here are my thoughts:

Global Awareness: My current coursework includes a blend of science and history classes, focusing on continuing my path down the Biochemistry and History majors.  While I am unsure of the concentration of history I plan to focus on, I have taken a couple of history of health courses. By this point in my undergraduate career, I have now had the opportunity to travel abroad to the United Kingdom to further my historical research project. This was a very enriching experience and I hope to do more trips like this in the future.

Original Inquiry: I hope to conduct research with faculty members from both the science and history departments, as well as complete an Honors Thesis. I now am in two research projects in this area and I hope to continue them during the rest of my undergraduate career. This could help me explore my passion in either medicine or science in general. I look forward to working with academic experts in many departments here at Ohio State.

Academic Enrichment: I plan to complete a double major through the honors program, which will involve rigorous courses each semester that will both engage and challenge me. I also think it is important to explore learning opportunities outside the classroom, and I am planning to attend as many conferences and lectures on historical themes.

Leadership Development: Currently I am a member of Ohio State’s Pre-Med Club and our own Project Peer. I will strive to stay a leader not only in university organizations but also in the classroom as well as in outside organizations.

Service Engagement: I am looking forward to engaging in service work within the community of Columbus and beyond. Our Eminence cohort will stay involved in the community through Project Peer. I also hope to volunteer at an Orthopedic Surgery Office at Ohio State’s Jameson Crane Institute of Sports Medicine. To continue my passion for playing the violin, I plan on volunteering to play for church services and possibly elderly homes.

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]