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Student Focus

Budding pharmacists take to new elective like fish to water

Students and faculty take a break from laboratory and fieldwork to clown around on a white-sand beach in the Bahamas.

M

edicine from the sea took on new meaning for Doctor of Pharmacy student Katerina Pappas of Tupelo, after spending two weeks this summer exploring coral reefs in the Bahamas. 

Pappas was among some 20 UM students participating in a field course in a protected marine reserve off Lee Stocking Island, part of the Greater Exuma chain of the Bahama Islands. The study’s aim was to motivate a new generation to explore the continued survival of coral reefs. 

 “As a pharmacy student, learning how ‘drugs from the sea’ are discovered was really interesting, and I don’t think it would have made such an impact on my learning if it had occurred in a classroom setting,” Pappas said. “It also helped me really understand that everything is interconnected – environmental preservation, ecology, pharmacognosy, medicine – and getting the full picture is essential.”

The field course is just one of more than a dozen new electives pharmacy students can take to meet their degree requirements, said Marvin C. Wilson, associate dean of academic and student affairs.

“The new electives grew out of changes in our accreditation standards in 2007, and students must complete five hours of them during the first two years of their professional program,” Wilson said. “We asked each department to develop at least two electives. The one in the Bahamas was created by the pharmacognosy department, and it appears to be a big hit.”

One of the most diverse, richest ecosystems on the planet, coral reefs are threatened by pollution, climate change and human activities. The risks of coral reef extinction are so real that marine biologists worldwide are frantically studying the problem.

Scientists from UM and the University of Alabama are trying to better understand coral disease and ocean acidification in the reef near Lee Stocking Island. With a fish-eye view of the crystal clear turquoise waters, their research team observes one of nature’s most fragile, yet bountiful, marine ecosystems. 

‘I got to swim with sharks, sea turtles and barracudas while getting to see so many different types of marine life and coral reefs.’

Laurin Dixon

“Coral reefs help provide food and medications, along with other goods and services, to hundreds of millions of people worldwide, yet they are disappearing at alarming rates,” said UM pharmacognosy professor Marc Slattery, an expert on briny invertebrates and algae. “The Caribbean is a biodiversity hot spot, and without research they too may be lost to future generations.”

This summer, the team examined reefs submerged 200 to 300 feet below the surface, depths overlooked by prior surveys, said Slattery, who hopes to discover new pharmaceutical compounds from coral reef organisms.

Other researchers working with Slattery on the project include Deborah Gochfeld, an expert on corals and fish from UM’s National Center for Natural Products Research, and UA’s Julie Olsen, a microbial ecologist with expertise in biological oceanography. The team brought home plenty of samples of the coral and other sea life, and Slattery said they will be busy for months examining them for signs of changes in the reef’s health.

Pappas and other students got their feet wet as Slattery and colleagues led a related two-week graduate course, “Coral Reef Stressors: Adaptation in Tropical Marine Ecosystems,” at the nearby Perry Institute for Marine Sciences. Students described their maritime encounters with multicolored fish, corals, sponges and sea fans as life-changing.

“I got to swim with sharks, sea turtles and barracudas while getting to see so many different types of marine life and coral reefs,” said Laurin Dixon, a Doctor of Pharmacy student from Germantown, Tenn. “Every day was an experience both in the water while snorkeling and in the classrooms and labs. We observed an amazing variety of marine life, and we were also taught by two of the leading experts in that field.”

Besides scuba diving and snorkeling up to three hours for daily afternoon fieldwork, the typical day onshore included laboratory experiments and nightcap lectures.

“The course was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said first-year pharmacy student Mallory Johnson of  Brookhaven. “I was able to visualize, firsthand, the process of developing potential pharmaceuticals from the marine environment.”

 The courses will be offered again next summer, and Johnson encourages her peers to take the class.

The course is funded by the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology, part of NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research at UM. Slattery is director of NIUST’s Ocean Biotechnology Center and Repository.

“There’s truly no better place to take a course than in the field outside the traditional classroom setting,” said Ashlei Evans, a pre-pharmacy student from Madison. “Visiting coral reef sites, I learned to identify the biodiversity of species present and to recognize signs of coral reef stressors. Labs and lectures gave us a better idea of how coral reefs fit into the larger scheme of health care biotechnology.”

 

For more information on the School of Pharmacy, visit www.pharmacy.olemiss.edu.