This is the hood where I perform colonoscopies for my research.

I am Elizabeth Bullard and I am a senior biomedical engineering major. I work with Dr. Timothy Muldoon as part of the Translational Biophotonics and Imaging Laboratory at the Engineering Research Center. I have just completed my second semester of Honors College research funding for my Ulcerative Colitis project. 

I have been developing and working on this project for almost two years and it has been both a challenging and rewarding experience. I was asked to explore the project as a sort of trial for joining Dr. Muldoon’s research lab as a sophomore. The goal of my research is to establish Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) as a reliable method to track the inflammation cycles of Ulcerative Colitis (UC). UC is an autoimmune disease of the large intestine and colon that will often cycle through periods of intense inflammation and remission. It can be a tricky disease to manage because the exact cause of it is unknown and the diagnoses and treatments can be invasive. Most UC patients will undergo many colonoscopies and potentially major surgery if the disease is severe. 

DRS noninvasively measures the level of hemoglobin content and oxygen saturation in the colonic mucosa. This “spectral biopsy” technique can detect microscopic changes at the cellular level before the effects can be seen via endoscope. It has the potential to predict the onset of inflammation and provide health care professionals with valuable information on how well a treatment may be working for a particular patient. 

I have spent most of my time as an undergraduate researcher establishing a reproducible model of UC in mice. I use dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) in the drinking water to induce inflammation and ulceration in the mouse colon. It was difficult to obtain the exact model I wanted because there is not much detailed literature on how DSS works and when it starts to take effect. I learned the hard way that some mice strains are very resistant to DSS and will not develop inflammation with high DSS concentrations. I had to change mouse strains and vary concentrations several times before I finally established the right combination in the spring of 2020. Unfortunately, the pandemic caused everything to shut down right as I was ready to begin a detailed pilot study, but the fall semester proved to be very productive. 

I worked with 14 mice this semester, with 5 controls and 9 DSS-treated mice. I used a veterinary endoscope to perform colonoscopies on them every week to collect DRS data and take images of the colon. Dr. Muldoon and the lab’s graduate students were always willing to lend a helping hand with colonoscopies or data analysis, which took a lot of stress off me as I was trying to keep up with engineering classes and daily lab work. I virtually presented my preliminary results at the annual Biomedical Engineering Society conference and got to meet other faculty members and graduate students who were interested in my research or wanted to talk to me about joining their lab for my PhD. It was a rewarding experience that helped prepare me for graduate school interviews and future presentations. 

I was also kept busy with graduate school applications this semester. I reached out to many faculty members at the universities I applied to express interest in their research and had many encouraging conversations with them and their graduate students. My research experience 

in Dr. Muldoon’s lab made it clear that I wanted to be in a lab with a positive work environment with lots of support available from the Principal Investigator and the other graduate students. It was fascinating getting to hear their experiences and learn about other research projects. My own project has made me realize the value of translational research and that I want to continue performing research that can be almost directly applied to real patients. My involvement with Engineering World Health (EWH) and Tau Beta Pi has shown me that I have a passion for global health as well. My summer abroad in Rwanda was sadly postponed due to the pandemic, but I have high hopes that I will be able to go this summer. I will attend EWH’s Summer Institute where I will learn to repair hospital equipment and work as an engineer in an African hospital for a month. I hope that the experience will teach me to collaborate effectively with healthcare providers and get an idea for a global health research project. After completing my PhD, I plan to work for a nonprofit health organization like EWH and develop diagnostic and imaging technology for low-resource nations. 

The Honors College Research Grant has allowed me to attend the BMES conference this semester as well as support my material needs, such as the DSS salt and the mice. It has also helped me with other basic student needs, such as housing and food. I am grateful to the Honors College for supporting my research and preparing me for graduate school and beyond. I look forward to my last semester at Arkansas and the publishing of my research before I graduate.