From washing dirty lab dishes to pursuing individual research projects, students of all levels play active roles in the laboratories of Daryl Davies and Ronald Alkana as they search to identify targets of alcohol action in the brain.

“It’s amazing – having taken three years of science courses as an undergraduate, this lab lets me see it all come together. In class, the lab experience is set up and you know where it will take you, but here, I’m part of the discovery,” said Jeff Hassan, a USC senior majoring in biological science and business administration who is working at the USC School of Pharmacy lab this summer.

Hassan’s sentiment is echoed by his colleagues, among them three other undergraduates, a high school student and a neuroscience Ph.D. student whose interest in addiction research led her to the lab.

“We’ve set up an environment where the advanced students help mentor the high school and undergraduate students. Part of the role of an academic researcher is to train the next generation of researchers,” said Davies, who calls the high school and undergraduates in the lab “junior colleagues.”

The undergraduates are part of several different university programs that are designed to provide hands-on research experience. These include the Undergraduate Research Associates Program, the Rose Hills Foundation and the School of Pharmacy Summer Fellowship program.

Each student receives a stipend during the summer, making it possible for them to explore the pursuit of science in a laboratory setting and consider it as a career option.

All of the current undergraduate recipients are having their first experience in the Davies-Alkana laboratory. Many students continue working in the Davies-Alkana lab throughout their undergraduate tenure at USC.

“I thought this would be measuring chemicals, but it’s more about collecting and analyzing data,” said Rishi Jain, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering. “This lab experience has changed my impression of research. It’s a big project we’re doing – all working toward a common goal. Everything you do affects the outcome. It’s exciting.”

Davies and Alkana mentor the students as they pursue their own projects while also collecting data for the overriding work of the lab.

“It’s a good formula,” Davies said. “The students are good hands for us, and we give them a real research experience.”

Junior biological science major Emma Freeman sees the experience as “offering a broader perspective to the process of science.”

Being a part of the trial and error of the laboratory setting gives the student workers an opportunity to see how scientists solve real problems in the lab and adapt to new circumstances.

The students learn from the setting, working shoulder-to-shoulder with faculty and graduate students. One of these graduate students is neuroscience Ph.D. candidate Letisha Wyatt, who started working in the Davies-Alkana lab last February. The lab fit her interests, and she has decided to continue her work at the lab for the remainder of her Ph.D. studies.

“I’m very interested in using electrophysiology to study how alcohol changes the brain’s circuitry,” said Wyatt, who was awarded a diversity enhancement stipend for her summer work in the lab. “Also, since I want to eventually pursue an academic career, I like the opportunity to work with the undergraduate and high school students.”

Sophomore Hannah Mansky said, “I really play an important role on the team, gathering real data used in the overall research of the lab.” Mansky is part of the School’s TAP Program (Trojan Admission Pre-pharmacy) that guarantees her admission to the School of Pharmacy Pharm.D. program as long as she meets all academic requirements.

“With these students, along with postdoctoral fellows, doctoral candidates, MS students and our laboratory staff, we have a motivated and excited group searching for answers about alcohol addiction,” Davies said. “It’s a creative place.”