Hughes Mentor:  Lisa Fortier

Department: Vet Clinical Sciences

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A Day in the Life of an Undergraduate in the Fortier Lab

I was hired as a research assistant my freshman year in the Fortier lab after replying to an add listed on Bearaccess. When I was hired, I had no previous research experience or relevant coursework, but I learned quickly as necessary. I served as a paid employee for 2 semesters, and my duties included the usual washing dishes, autoclaving glassware, wrapping packs, etc. I was also responsible for carrying out certain parts of individual projects such as RNA isolation, tissue homogenization, etc. In addition, I would also help with routine tissue harvest from horses and dogs to build a bank of cells to use for experiments. Being an orthopedics laboratory, this exposure was invaluable as it allowed me to enhance my understanding of basic anatomy, research, and the clinical sciences.

There were several upperclassmen in the lab, and they were a very useful resource in helping me get settled into college life, decide which classes to take, where to live, etc. The lab technician was also an outstanding resource, and he helped me with some of my coursework, navigating Ithaca, and understanding the overall scope and nature of the lab. The primary investigator Dr. Lisa Fortier, could not be a better person to work for. She has been an amazing resource, helping me find a summer externship, scholarships, etc. Together, these people all helped me find my “place” in research. When I look back to my freshman year, I realize how lucky I was to become involved with such an amazing lab.

I started an independent project early my sophomore year, and this has proved to be a very rewarding experience. I am using equine chondrocytes (cartilage cells) to study the activation of the small G proteins, Cdc42, Rac, and Rho after treatment with IL-6 and IL-8. During the semester, I worked on a project where I determined the concentration of IL-6 and IL-8 necessary to stimulate cartilage catabolism. With these findings, I designed an experiment to determine the activation status of Cdc42, Rac, and Rho in response to treatment with this previously determined concentration of IL-6 and IL-8.

A typical day in our lab can range from running around crazy to being bored out of your mind because there is nothing to do. If we have a cell “harvest,” the days are usually crazy. This summer has been a learning experiences, and I have been trying to manage several different legs of projects all at one time. This has the obvious advantage that it is a great way to get a lot done, but at the same time it is also difficult to keep up with other lab work, and there are often small unforeseen pitfalls along the way such as running out of media, spilling one of the reagents, etc.

A student interested in this lab should like working not only in the lab, but also be comfortable working in necropsy and in the horse barn. Among the techniques that I use are tissue culture, RNA isolation and extraction, Taqman (RT PCR), SDS-PAGE and western analysis, agarose gels, and many more. This lab has been very flexible, and it has been easy to manage labwork with school work. I would recommend this lab to anyone interested in research.

Faculty Interview—Dr. Lisa A. Fortier

Dr. Lisa A. Fortier is a board certified orthopedic equine surgeon. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Minnesota State. She attended veterinary school at Colorado State University and graduated as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). Dr. Fortier then chose to continue her education at Cornell University, where she obtained a PhD and completed a large animal surgery residency. She chose to complete her postdoctoral work at Cornell because of its excellent reputation in equine medicine.

Because of her interest in equine medicine, Dr. Fortier developed an interest in researching arthritis because it affects the vast majority of sport horses. She was also influenced by faculty members who were very excited about cartilage research at Cornell. She runs a laboratory that investigates the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the development of arthritis with the ultimate goal of identifying novel molecular targets for the treatment or prevention of arthritis.

In her free time, Dr. Fortier enjoys golfing and playing with her kids. Dr. Fortier is always willing to help undergraduates, but in order to succeed in her lab, she is looking for someone who has a great sense of responsibility, the ability to think and act independently, and the ability to seek advise when necessary. Too many students are looking for someone to tell them what to do and what to think. Dr. Fortier also attributes this fault to teachers as well—it is a steep learning curve to teach/learn how to trouble-shoot a failed experiment. When the student takes the time to understand their data and the flaws or strong points associated with it, the give and take surrounding such interactions are exceptionally rewarding.