Georgetown College. Georgetown University.

Maria Aina Gaspar is now in her third year of studies at the Georgetown University Medical Center. (Photo: Roland Dimaya)

By Katherine Morrissey

When Maria Aina Gaspar arrived at Georgetown, she was quickly drawn to Dr. Elena Casey’s research.

“It was a new lab when I first joined, and I wanted to help Dr. Casey establish her research at Georgetown,” says Gaspar, now in medical school. “Also, since the lab was new, there were a number of different research topics and options I could pursue on my own.”

Along with her interest in the lab’s neurobiology focus, Gaspar was drawn to the frogs. Having previously only had the opportunity to work with rats and mice, Gaspar was excited at the prospect of a new species, Xenopus laevis, the African claw-toed frog. Gaspar was particularly enthusiastic about working with Xenopus laevis because of its potential applications in clinical work.

“My thesis involved the gene Sox11 and its role in the development of Xenopus laevis,” explains Gaspar. “Sox11 is known to play a part in early neural formation, specifically in neural stem cell differentiation and my thesis attempted to elucidate the specific role of Sox11 in early neurogenesis.”

She won the 2005 Chapman Medal from the Biology Department for her thesis research and is now beginning her third year of studies at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Despite the busy environment of medical school, Gaspar finds time to participate in research. In the summer of 2006 she worked on two different projects.

“The first involved collecting data for Dr. Alex H. Krist’s study regarding the frequency of repeat colonoscopy and whether there was a disparity between the recommended guidelines and endoscopist actual practice,” says Gaspar. “The second project involved working with Dr. Daniel Merenstein. I assisted by performing background research on the probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12, which will be used in a future study.”

With her current schedule, it’s hard to find time for anything other than her OB/GYN rotation, but Gaspar’s goal is to work on either clinical or translational research (research that moves lab work to a clinical setting) later on in her career. Originally from the Philippines, Gaspar also hopes to spend time practicing medicine outside of the United States after completing her studies.

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