Out of more than 100 applicants, Oklahoma Christian University freshman Michael Thellmann was selected as one of 12 students to participate in the Fleming Scholar Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
The eight-week summer program began in 1956 to give elite Oklahoma high school and college students an opportunity to gain biomedical research experience with professionals.
The program was named after the British scientist Sir Alexander Fleming, who dedicated the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s first building in 1949. The program became a model for a federally funded national program which pairs the most promising high school and college students with accomplished professional scientists and mathematicians.
Eric Phelps, professor and Department of Biology chair, recommended Thellmann for the program in downtown Oklahoma City.
“He’s a good student, he’s really good in the lab, enjoys research, and works really hard,” Phelps said. “Michael will use his science techniques and understanding to blend with a new project in a new environment.”
A committee from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation staff interviewed the top 25 applicants before accepting the final twelve scholars.
“The interview team consisted of about seven or eight scientists, all who seemed really laid back and personable, so I feel I will get along with them,” Thellmann said. “Getting to know scientists as human beings is something I’m really excited about.”
The rigorous program allows scholars to work in June and July at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in their state-of-the-art biomedical research laboratories.
The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation is a non-profit biomedical research institute. Their scientific breakthroughs of the first FDA-approved drug for a deadly blood infection and discovering the enzyme believed to be directly related to Alzheimer’s disease have increased their global attention.
Once accepted, each selected student is paired with a senior staff member to assist them with their specific biomedical research projects. The scholars attend weekly seminars and work under the supervision of the senior staff in the lab. Scholars are paid an hourly wage in relation to their educational level.
Thellmann will be paired with Sathish Srinivasan, who is currently researching a cure for Lymphedema.
Tanner Bowen, freshman classmate of Thellmann, worked as a Fleming Scholar in the Vascular Biology Research Program following his high school graduation in 2014. He recommended the program to Thellmann
“I realized, while interning at the OMRF, that a career in the biomedical sciences is not an unobtainable goal,” Bowen said. “Rather, it is something that is well within the realm of possibility for me to do one day. I gained confidence while I carried out a research study on the causes of endothelial cell necroptosis. All the while, I learned new, practical skills that have helped me during my studies at OC, especially concerning laboratory work.”
To conclude the program, each scholar gives a formal presentation to the entire Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation staff on their findings and research throughout the two-month period. In addition, each scholar composes a scientific paper summarizing his or her summer project.
In preparation for the program, Thellmann is reading published scientific papers written by Srinivasan to get an idea of what the lab is doing and to become familiar with the vocabulary that will be used.
“I could see myself potentially doing research, but I’ve only done it in a small freshmen biology lab,” Thellmann said. “I think for me, if I can do this, I will have an idea if this kind of thing is for me. I know I want to go into medicine, but the question whether or not I want to incorporate some sort of research.”
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