My name is Mario Martinez and I am a senior Biology major
with a pre-med track. My interest in research was sparked when I began as a
research assistant for PhD student Caroline Neely. I began helping with traumatic
brain injuries within mice. Soon after Caroline spoke about an on-going
research that focused on two passions of mine; research and health and wellness.
One of my passions is fitness
and balanced lifestyle of health and wellness in both men and women. At a young
age I was considered overweight and obese, and from personal experience, I have
dealt with the different health concerns that rise from my past challenges.
From my end, it was the different forms of anxiety that arose that hindered me
the most. After incorporating long term exercise into my life, however, I began
to see an improvement in my mental state of well-being. I noticed changes in my
social skills and anxiety while engaged in voluntary exercise for several
years. I began to see improvements in the way I carried myself with my work
ethic and social events. This project was much more than an opportunity to lead
my own study. I was affected by anxiety when I was younger, and
I wanted a better understanding as to why this occurs not to myself but to
others as well. The aim of this experiment was to determine the effects of
voluntary exercise on the neuropsychiatric outcomes it has on mice.
In the near future I do plan to pursue a career within
the health field. I want to change the lives of my patients. Many individuals
fall victim to obesity which leads to serious health concerns from diabetes to
strokes. One of the main concerns that I would like to focus on is childhood
obesity. Children tend to suffer from both the physical and mental effects of
obesity the most. As a future medical provider, I believe it is my
responsibility to not only care for these children when they are sick but to
provide them with knowledge on living a balanced life and why incorporating
some form of physical activity is important to prevent them from getting sick.
On a weekly basis for this research, I would handle my
mice located in the Krasnow Institute. Every Monday of that week, we would have
weigh-ins of the mice. Besides handling that mice, we would ensure that wheels
that needed to be functional were and wheels that needed to be locked were
locked. If the equipment was faulty we would have husbandry replace them. One
thing I discovered this term was the importance of organization, planning, taking
action and being flexible/adaptable. I never realized how much time and effort
doing your own research truly takes. Not only that but during this research
there were time when things did not go as planned and I needed to readjust.
