Record intern class completes summer of research at OMRF

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) hosted a record intern class this summer as students conducted wideranging experiments while working alongside some of the top minds in science.

Twelve students formed the 66th class of the Fleming Scholars Program. Nine more made up the second class of the OMRF Langston University Biomedical Research Scholars Program.

The Fleming program gives Oklahoma high school and college students handson biomedical research experience. It is named for Sir Alexander Fleming, the British scientist who discovered penicillin and in 1949 came to Oklahoma City to dedicate OMRF’s first building.

Fleming Scholar Michael Dong of Edmond, a chemistry and neuroscience major at Rice University, was surprised at his ability to comprehend his assigned experiments investigating blood clots at the molecular level. He spent his summer working under OMRF cardiovascular biologist Lijun Xia, M.D., Ph.D.

“The Fleming experience has only further confirmed my dream of pursuing a career intertwining scientific research and medicine,” Dong said.

More than 600 Oklahoma students have participated in the Fleming Scholar program since its inception in 1956. Two current OMRF vice presidents, Judith James, M.D., Ph.D., and Rod McEver, M.D., started their research careers as Fleming Scholars.

The Langston Scholars program aims to diversify biomedical research in Oklahoma. Inaugurated in 2021, it is a partnership between OMRF and Langston University, Oklahoma’s only historically Black college or university.

J’Taelii Heath, a biology major at LU, said the experience was a lesson in patience and persistence. “It’s not just a matter of doing an experiment and being done with it,” the sophomore from Oklahoma City said. “You have to repeat the same experiment to show consistent results.”

Heath’s research in the lab of OMRF scientist Bob Axtell, Ph.D., found that a component of black pepper reversed the inflammatory effects of cigarette smoke. This finding could have significant implications for people with multiple sclerosis, whose prognosis worsens from smoking.

Other Langston and Fleming Scholars conducted research in areas ranging from osteoarthritis and cancer biology to diseases of aging. At the summer’s conclusion, each authored scientific papers and delivered presentations to OMRF’s research staff.