First Stony Brook Mote Marine Lab Scholarship Recipient Completes Internship

January 7, 2010

Helen Cheng at Mote Marine Laboratory

Two scholarships were offered this year to permit outstanding Stony Brook University Marine Sciences, Marine Vertebrate Biology, Environmental Studies or Atmospheric Sciences majors to spend a semester at the Mote Marine Laboratory, an independent marine research lab located in Sarasota, Florida. The first recipient of the Stony Brook University Mote Marine Lab Scholarship was Helen Cheng. A Dean's list student, Helen graduated this December with a major in biology and a minor in marine sciences. She completed her internship this fall, working in Robert Hueter's lab with graduate student Jane Gardner on a project studying the sensory systems of blacktip nurse sharks and bonnethead sharks.

"The experiment was designed to test how effective each sense was in detecting a food item," said Helen. "Jane knocked out a single sense of the shark-- like smell or sight--and placed food within an apparatus resembling a maze-like system of tunnels. Using overhead cameras, we timed how long it would take the shark to sense the prey item or show signs of finding the prey item."

"Unfortunately, a month into the experiment, the sharks were infested with trematode parasites and the experiment had to be suspended" said Helen. "It became my project to research various options for treating trematodes on animals in a captive setting. It was ultimately very interesting to work with Jane and the veterinarian to design and carry out a treatment regiment that tried to balance risk to the animals with effectiveness of treatment."

Helen Cheng and sharks

"The biggest thing I learned was that research is unpredictable," said Helen. "It's important to go with the flow, organize well, and make sure you cover every aspect that can go wrong or might go wrong."

The semester at Mote Marine lab was a fantastic opportunity, Helen explained. "I was fortunate to get away from New York and the crummy weather. But most importantly, I met great people. I learned a lot from the scientists and other interns."

Helen is currently training to be an instructor at the Staten Island Zoo and is studying for the GRE. She plans to go to graduate school to continue studying marine science.

A second Mote Scholarship was recently awarded to Rowena Eng, a Stony Brook junior majoring in marine sciences. Rowena has volunteered as a research assistant in the labs of Dr. Mike Frisk, Dr. Bob Cerrato and Dr. Demian Chapman. Her work with Dr. Chapman on molecular techniques earned her co-authorship of a paper that has been submitted to the journal Conservation Genetics about the use of DNA-analysis to aid in the conservation of the small tooth sawfish. Rowena is currently working on a project to amplify genomic DNA from the great white shark and is looking forward to interacting with live shark specimens when she interns this summer at Mote's Center for Shark Research.