Mitchell Baker

November 13 - December 18

For the past month, I have worked primarily worked on finding a Mentor and am saddened to say that Mrs. Marban no longer is availible and rudely decided to ignore me aproximentally 2 weeks ago.  At first I found it difficult to find a mentor, but now have several appointments set up, including one in January at Johns Hopkins and another at a research facility for the FDA.  Dr. Karanian, the man I met at the FDA, is currently researching and evaluating various heart implants, including stints and grafts,  for clinical effectiveness, through experiments with pigs.  Another associate, Dr. Harbotle,  is a geneticist working on the prevalence of a certain mutation in collies that is a serious danger to their health.  Dr. Karanian has invited me to visit his laboratory and possibly begin a mentorship.  Although this work does not involve stem cells, it would allow me to familarize myself with standard laboratory procedures and become more competitive for a intership.  Another Scientist, Dr. Greenburg is working with a classmate of mine on anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins and has several collegues who are involved with Stem Cell research, who he has stated might be interested in listening to what I have as a project focus.  Other than these curent developments, I have completed some research on cardiac stints and have learned there are several complications currently under testing, including the occurence of restonisis and chemical complications within the cells of the aorta.  Implantable devices have begun to include medicatiosn within the arterial stinting, but effectiveness fo their disperal has lead to concerns of safety.