Student Spotlight: Senior Natalia Cuyler honored with research award for her work studying UTIs at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio

Tell us about your summer program experience and your exciting research award!

In the fall of 2023, I was encouraged by mentors to pursue research experiences outside of Chapman. I applied to many, one being the SUPER Scholar program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus Ohio, the second largest children’s hospital in the nation. If accepted, this program provides National Institute of Health (NIH) funding to students to engage in urology/nephrology research, which includes the bladder, kidneys, reproductive systems, and more. Following multiple rounds of interviews/essays, I was accepted into the program! I began my drive across the country to Ohio the day our spring semester ended and quickly began the program. I had the privilege of working in the Schwartz and Spencer lab at Nationwide, both renowned researchers and such fun mentors. This lab does significant research into urinary tract infections (UTIs) and UTI recurrence using mice models. My personalized project was quickly formulated off of this ongoing research. The goal for my 10 week project was to begin characterizing the UTI defenses of diabetic, obese ob/ob mice at baseline. It’s known that over 150 million individuals are impacted by UTIs each year on a global scale. Furthermore, people with Type II Diabetes and obesity experience UTIs 10 times more often than their healthy counterparts. The goal of my study was to understand why this community is so much more vulnerable to UTI. The ob/ob mouse model has a spontaneous leptin mutation, which means that they can never feel full. Thus, they will eat and eat, developing obesity and Type II Diabetes. Using these mice I was able to analyze their general RNA and protein levels of specific defense mechanisms the body has in protecting itself against attack/infection. I found that, when compared to controls, these ob/ob mice had very dysfunctional UTI defenses at baseline, most likely due to the added biological stress of their conditions, some even mimicking infection at baseline. 

At the end of the 10 weeks, I, along with hundreds of other summer students both from my program and all other programs at the hospital, presented our work. We presented to a panel of judges, friends, peers, and mentors. I won the Poster of Distinction award, one of the two awards you can win on this presentation day. The awards were given out based on school level: high school, undergraduate, and medical students. I was the only student from the Kidney and Urinary Tract Center at the hospital to win an award; all the others went to the genetics labs.

Tell us more about your experience. Was this exciting? fun? challenging?

This whole experience was very new to me. I had never lived in a place so far from home, let alone taken part in such an intense program. It was a challenge for me to step so far outside of my comfort zone and truly dedicate myself to something that was so unfamiliar. Learning new lab techniques was difficult at first but watching myself become more and more comfortable in the lab setting was so empowering. I made deep connections with my mentors and made new friends. I think the most rewarding aspect of this experience was watching myself grow as an individual. Being placed in a completely new environment gave me the opportunity to remain open-minded, try new things, knowing failure is ok, and grow confidence in my own unique abilities. I found a place within a team that supported me and helped me gain success and for each moment, I am very grateful. 

Has your experience affirmed your major/career aspirations?

This program truly gave me so much clarity and peace in my career choices. I still don’t know the exact path I want to take in medicine, but hearing from so many inspiring physicians taught me something very powerful: that slowing down is not a crime. The stress and pressure to constantly stay moving forward and achieve greatness is so toxic in the “pre-med” field. This program gave me the opportunity to receive lectures from renowned physicians, and some of the best took the most unconventional path to where they are now. Many took multiple gap years, trained for a completely different specialty before entering the one they are in today, or even quit and came back to medicine years later. I also had the opportunity to shadow in the clinical setting as well as the OR and found that I absolutely love the clinic which was quite unexpected to me. The clinical urology/nephrology team is quite special at Nationwide Children as they combine social work/psychology and medicine into one. It was absolutely fascinating and inspiring to me to watch patients be treated in such a holistic way, and I hope to one day being this to my practices in the future. 

What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming Fall semester?

I am most looking forward to becoming a TA for the new neuroscience students in the Fall! This was one of my favorite classes, and I am excited to share this experience with new students.

Congratulations Natalia on this amazing award!!