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| Junior Adam Chalek is spending his summer at the University of Michigan's Frankel Cardiovascular Center. |
Throughout the summer, we're checking in with several returning student-athletes who are partaking in unique experiences relating to student research, an internship, or sport through cross-cultural exchanges. Our second profile features Adam Chalek, a rising junior from the swimming & diving team.
This summer, Chalek is part of a 10-week fellowship program at the University of Michigan's Frankel Cardiovascular Center, where he is working in the laboratory of Robert Neumar, M.D., Ph.D., whose research focuses on optimizing patient outcomes after cardiac arrest, a research area matching Chalek's interests.
"Cardiovascular medicine has always interested me," explained Chalek. "I specifically chose this lab because its research concerns the brain and heart. The chance to do hands on research with a topic that's very prevalent in emergency medicine was very exciting."
Chalek and his student colleagues are focusing on the mechanisms of hypothermia in a post-cardiac arrest rodent model. The research group's goal is to try and determine if hypothermia helps to preserve brain function during cardiac arrest by acting upon the protein calpain.
Chalek noted, "Global brain ischemia occurs when blood flow to the brain is halted or drastically reduced, and this is most commonly seen in cardiac arrest. Previous clinical research has proved that inducing hypothermia in patients during a post-cardiac arrest helps to preserve cognitive brain function."
Still a year away from fully embarking on Wooster's premier undergraduate independent study project, Chalek does potentially plan on applying this fellowship to his future research noting, "I might be able to examine certain behavioral aspects of rodents before and after cardiac arrest using hypothermia therapy."
Notable, Chalek is one of approximately 20 fellows in this year's program.