University of Colorado Denver

From Student Intern to Professional Health Researcher Xiangying B. Jensen, senior biology major, served as an intern Fall of 2008 at the University of Colorado Cardiovascular Institute (CU-CVI). She worked with doctors and staff Luisa Mestroni, Matt Taylor, Dobromir Slavov and Xiao Zhu. Shortly after Xiangying started her internship she was included in a research group led by Drs. Mestroni and Taylor. Her research focused on familial cardiomyopathy, an inherited heart muscle disease, causing heart failure and sudden death. As an intern, Xiangying assisted the group by analyzing TITIN gene sequence and protein structure, gene mutation screening for human genetic disorders causing heart diseases, and in finding non- synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among family members. She was also responsible for database management. Although her internship ended December 12th 2008, Xiangying was asked to continue on as a student researcher. According to Xiangying, “Under the supervision of Dr. Mestroni and Dr. Taylor, I’ve gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about cardiovascular disease as well as practical skills about how to conduct research, how to work as part of a research team, and about the application of theoretical information to patients.”