The following highlights some of the high school and college students who participated in Monell's 2006 Research Apprenticeship Program. Each student worked in a laboratory of a Monell scientist. At the end of the summer, they presented their research findings in a poster presentation which was open to scientists, staff and family members.

Angela	Jeff	Amaka
Angela spent her first summer at the Center working with Dr. Tordoff on a research project looking at the effects of diet on calcium status in mice. Her responsibilities included animal testing and calcium measurements. Angie will be entering her sophomore year at the University of Pennsylvania this fall where she is a pre-med major. Because of her experience this summer, Angela is now considering both research and medicine. At the end of the summer, she wrote: "I gained a better grasp of knowledge about science and learned techniques that will come in handy in the future."	Jeff spent his first summer at Monell working in the laboratory of Drs. Preti and Gallagher. The overall goal of his summer project was to analyze the volatiles emanating from human skin. His responsibilities included solution preparation, running samples in the GC/MS and instrument maintenance. Jefferson will be a senior this fall at LaSalle University. After college he plans on attending medical school. Jeff comments that his experiences this summer made him realize that "I can certainly set my mind on a goal and achieve that goal through hard work and dedication."	Amaka will be a sophomore at Temple University in the fall, majoring in biology. This is Amaka.s second summer working in the laboratories of Drs. George Preti and Jae Kwak on a project determining salivary levels of trimethylamine in patients with trimethylaminuria. Her responsibilities included performing solid phase micro extraction and running samples in the GC. Amaka was especially proud of her ability to communicate what she did to others. She remarks that "Presenting my work was an issue for me initially but I learned to better coordinate myself...I gained a better understanding of my research."
Mallory	Aleida	Leen
This was Mallory.s first summer working in the laboratories of Drs. Field and Bachmanov on a USDA-funded project to determine genetic differences in mice to protein tastes. Her responsibilities included animal care, as well as collecting and analyzing behavioral data. Her final project was entitled .Casein and casein hydrolysate preference scores for CD-1 mice fed dough or pellets.. Mallory will be a junior at Bloomsburg University this fall where she is majoring in biology and psychology. Mallory was appreciative of how her summer experience broadened her scientifically and personally: .My mentor helped me with outside things (e.g., vocabulary building) as well as things that were done here at Monell..	Aleida studied the role of genetics on individual differences in human body odor under the mentorship of Dr. Julie Mennella, Ms. Steinmeyer and Ms. Perlman. Aleida helped with test preparation and assisted in the testing of human subjects. She presented her research findings during the final symposium. Aleida is a sophomore at Temple where she majors in biology. Aleida remarks .This is my third year working in Dr. Mennella.s lab. Each year has given me more confidence and increased my interest in pursuing a career in science..	This fall, Leen will be a senior at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia where she is majoring in pharmacy. This summer she worked at the Center with Dr. Nancy Rawson. Her research focused on histological studies of the cat olfactory epithelium in Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I diseased cats. Her responsibilities included sectioning, staining, and analyzing of tissue and she helped prepare a manuscript, of which she will be a coauthor, for publication. Leen.s goal is to attend pharmacy school.
Alex	Darryl	Tien
Alex spent his first summer at Monell working on a research project that developed methods to study behavior in neonatal rat pups. Alongside his mentors, Alex conducted experiments and gathered preliminary data. He also .offered his own ideas and suggestions for improving the experiments.. Alex will be a senior at Union County Magnet High School this fall.	Darryl spent his fifth summer in the program under the mentorship of Dr. Alexander Bachmanov and Ms. Maria Theodorides. His research involved phenotyping a number of strains of mice for their taste preferences. This fall, Darryl will be a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in biological basis of behavior. Darryl plans to attend medical school after college. Darryl remarks that through his experiences at Monell he .really got to learn the ins and outs of a behavioral research project..	Tien spent her third summer at Monell working with Drs. Preti and Kwak. She assisted in the chemical analysis of dietary volatiles from normal human biological fluids. Her responsibilities included preparing the urine and sweat samples for GC-FPD and GC-MS analyses. Tien remarks: .The more I get involved in the project, the more interesting it is. I was eager to go to the lab every day to learn more about chemistry.. This fall, she will be a sophomore at Penn State University, where she is majoring in chemistry.
Eva	Raymond	Natasha
Eva is a senior at Boston University, where she majors in psychology and nutrition. She spent her summer at Monell studying how early exposure to breast milk or infant formulas affects the taste preferences of babies. Her responsibilities included behavioral scoring of infant facial expressions during feeding, providing assistance during testing and data entry. She plans on pursuing graduate studies and taking the certification courses to be a registered dietician.	Raymond returned to the Center for his fourth summer working with Dr. Xia Li on re-sequencing the hT1R gene family. His duties included the complete sequencing of full length cDNA for members of TASIR family of receptors. "This year in particular I learned to juggle multiple projects all at different phases-one at the beginning research/bioinformatics level, one in progress and another that will be published as a paper." Raymond will be entering the sophomore class of Columbia University this fall.	This was Natasha.s first summer in the program. She worked in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Breslin on a research project on genetic differences in human bitter perception. Her responsibilities included DNA sampling and extraction, human subject testing, and data analyses. Her final research project was entitled: .Cross-Adaptation Among hTAS2R38 Receptor Ligands in Subjects with a PAV .Sensitive. Allele.. This fall, she will return to the University of Pennsylvania.
Allison	Lindsay	Martina
Allison worked on a project looking at the inflammatory properties of olive oil. She conducted chemical analyses of various olive oils as well as psychophysical testing of olive oils and ibuprofen solutions. This was her first summer working at Monell. She will continue conducting research while she pursues her studies at the University of Pennsylvania where she is a junior majoring in cognitive sciences.	This was Lindsay.s first year at Monell. She worked on several projects on the development of food and flavor preferences in infants. She plans to extend her studies at Monell in the fall where she will conduct her work-study requirement for the biology degree at Drexel University. Lindsay mentored several of the high school students in the lab and remarked: .I learned that I can be a good teacher while at Monell. I enjoyed that!.	Martina worked on a research project in which she conducted immunohistocemical analysis of taste bud tissues. This fall she will be a sophomore at Temple University where she is majoring in biology. Her experiences presenting her work at the final symposium made her realize: .I achieved the ability to present my ideas and results to various people. I also achieved the ability to perform a research project involving the analysis of data..
Mohamed	Gelsey	James
Under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Tordoff, Mohamed spent his second summer working on a project looking at how sodium modifies taste in humans and animal models. While working at Monell, he has been able to learn more about animal care, human psychophysical testing and how to conduct independent studies. He will be a sophomore at Penn State University majoring in agricultural systems management this fall.	This was Gelsey.s first summer working at Monell on a research project on investigating drug effects on brain neurochemistry. Her responsibilities included immunohistochemistry of brain tissue, counting neuronal cells and data entry. This fall, Gelsey will be a freshman at the University of Pennsylania majoring in biology.	James spent his first summer apprenticing on a research project that investigates how stress affects heart rate, perspiration and olfaction. He was involved in many facets of developing the protocol for this study. This fall, James will be a senior at George High School. James comments that through his experiences at Monell .he was exposed to the process of research in a science lab and he has a much better idea of what it takes to do scientific research..
Marcus	Sehris	Nelsa
This was Marcus. first summer at Monell. He is a junior at Abington High School in Philadelphia and dreams of being a veterinarian. This summer he worked on a research project in Dr. Tordoff.s lab looking at the effects of diet on calcium status in different strains of mice. He remarks that his experiences this summer .made me want to be a vet even more.. He is proud to say .I made it through my first job and got good compliments too. I did a project that turned out well..	Sehris is a biology major at Temple University who aspires to be a doctor. She worked in Dr. Mennella.s laboratory this summer studying the facial expressions babies make while eating fruits and vegetables. She commented: .I learned a lot of interesting things dealing with research which I didn.t expect..	This was Nelsa.s second year working under the supervision of Dr. Paul Breslin. Her responsibilities included preparing sodium chloride and sucrose samples, screening subjects and then conducting taste tests. Nelsa is a biology major at the University of the Sciences. She plans on attending graduate school. Her experiences at Monell made her realize that .science can be fun!.