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Xing '21 Contributes to University Research Study
Daniel Xing ’21 helped conduct a research study investigating the effect of neurological diseases on the medial prefrontal cortex during a summer internship at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Daniel was one of two high school students this summer in Dr. Hui Lu’s lab, where he assisted with a study on autism spectrum disorders. He also contributed to writing an abstract for the study, which was published in the September issue of the research journal Physiological Genomics.
“I just wanted to learn something, but I think I’m pretty lucky to have gotten this chance to get published,” Daniel said.
He was interested in learning more about neurological diseases, so he emailed Dr. Lu, an assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology, and asked if she would take on a high school intern. After interviewing in person, Daniel got the job.
“Daniel is very passionate about the research in my laboratory and eager to learn new knowledge,” Dr. Lu said. “I am glad that his experience as an intern in my lab opened a new avenue for his future interest.”
Daniel's main responsibility as an intern was to assist with monitoring data collection by a computer during imaging of the medial prefrontal cortex of a free-moving mouse performing a motor skill learning task.
GWU researchers observed that healthy mice could climb a ladder placed between two boxes very quickly, but mice with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) completed the task slowly. With time, however, the mice with ASD became more proficient at the task, an outcome Daniel hopes can provide insights on developing a therapeutic strategy to treat human patients.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School is a private, coeducational college preparatory day school for students in preschool (Age 2) through grade 12, located in Potomac, Maryland.