Caelie Kern

Meet this week’s Celeb, Caelie Kern! Caelie is a Junior Neuroscience and Behavior major from Bedford, NH. Caelie has recently done some amazing things with UNH Global Brigades and the Walker Laboratory. Read on to hear more about this week’s celeb!

Can you tell us about your involvement on Campus?

I’m currently the Campus Chairperson for UNH Global Brigades, a fantastic, international student-led organization focused on global health and development in under-resourced countries in Central America and Africa. We send brigades to communities in order to empower both the volunteers and communities to resolve these health and economic disparities and inspire all involved to work together toward a more equal world. Basically, it’s awesome.I’m also involved in Phi Sigma, the Biological Honors Society, and I tutor for Organic Chemistry.And even though it’s not technically on campus, per se, I’m an EMT at McGregor EMS, which is awesome!

What is your dream job?

I aspire to become either an oncologist, surgeon, or emergency medicine physician  – only time will tell!

Can you tell us about your research at the Walker Lab?

I’ve been working there since the spring of my freshman year when I applied for my first grant from the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research. We focus predominantly on the molecular level basic and mechanism of various cancers involving a protein called p53. P53 protein is fondly referred to as the ‘Guardian of the Genome’ and functions to regulate cells by killing off those that have either damaged DNA or aren’t working correctly, like cancer cells.  It is implicated in over 40% of cancers, and if the molecular pathways were better understood, it would inform development of cancer treatments that are less harmful to the human body!

 I have worked on a variety of different cancers, including brain, breast, and acute myelogenous leukemia. Currently, I am working with a patient population of acute myelogenous leukemia cells to determine the percentage of these patients that exhibit a phenomenon called cytoplasmic sequestration of p53, meaning that the p53 protein is stuck outside the nucleus and unable to kill off the cancerous cells.

What’s your favorite thing about UNH?

UNH has nearly endless opportunities to the point where is something for everyone if you know where to look! It also has a fantastic community of people that are pretty awesome, to say the least.

If you had to pick next week’s Campus Celeb who would you pick and why?

It’s hard to pick! This campus is full of so many fantastic people who work their butts off for their goals, and I would be hard pressed to choose just one.