Monica Haughan was a UIC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow and spent the summer in our lab working on the Bergamot fruit.
During her time in the lab she worked with a bergamot fruit extract and individual phytochemicals from the bergamot to determine a mechanism of action for lowering cholesterol.
Interestingly, the majority of research literature suggests that the bergamot fruit works similar to statins, the class of cholesterol lowering drugs that inhibit HMG-CoA Reductase, however, our results are suggesting an additional mechanism.
The title of her poster was “Distinct mechanism of cholesterol reduction by Citrus bergamia in HepG2 cells compared to statin”.
Congratulations to Monica for receiving 1st prize in the 2nd poster session!
If you want to find out more about our UIC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship you can find it here.
