A Celebration of Opportunity: Toxicology Undergraduate Research Experiences

One of the most common questions from students about doing research is: where can I find experiential research opportunities? Students majoring in Toxicology needn’t look very far.

The Toxicology Undergraduate Research Experience Program (TUREP) offers students the opportunity to complete a paid employment term working directly in the field of Toxicology. The program was designed to fill the gaps that often exist in undergraduate education regarding field and laboratory experience. This program caters to students in their first, second or third year of study. Additionally, students have the option of completing an Honours thesis project in their fourth year for academic credit. Students are also welcome to pursue paid summer research assistant positions as posted by faculty.

In all of these programs, students can conduct a research project, diving into the scientific method and working with faculty supervisors to augment their work. Dr. Mark Wickstrom (PhD), Associate Professor and Chair of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs in Toxicology says that about 12-15 Toxicology students per year take advantage of these opportunities to expand their undergraduate education. (Read about the research experiences of four 2020-21 Toxicology Honours students right here.)

“The TUREP program is often a student’s first experience in a research environment as it admits students as early as their first year in the Toxicology program,” explained Dr. Natacha Hogan (PhD), Associate Professor College of Agriculture and Bioresources. “Here they often get to learn how a research lab operates, be a part of ongoing experiments, and help care for research animals. These students get a taste for research and sometimes pursue an independent research project as part of an Honours program or get to take on more responsibility in the lab or the field through a summer assistantship.”

Toxicology faculty members are champions of undergraduate research opportunities. “We invest a considerable amount of time, energy, and resources into offering real-life research experiences to our undergraduates,” says Dr. Brinkmann (PhD), Assistant Professor in School of Environment and Sustainability.  “These programs help our students not only hear about, but experience and practice the entire research process, from conceptualizing the research idea, developing hypotheses and objectives, to writing a research proposal, conducting experiments, analyzing data, refining the experiments where necessary, and writing a report.”

 The quality of the finished work, Dr. Brinkmann notes, is often extremely high. “Depending on the results and career plans of the students, we often encourage our undergrads to take it to the next level and present their findings at scientific conferences and publish in peer-reviewed scientific journals.”

Enjoying the journey

Undergraduate Toxicology research students get the chance to close their books and open their minds. “Students who take our undergraduate Toxicology courses often tell us that they really enjoy when we relate the foundational information to real-world situations or problems,” Dr. Hogan says. “While we try to emphasize via in-class learning that all of this information was generated through research, often students really make this connection when they have had the chance to do hands-on research.”

Naturally, learning new skills and completing a research project represents a process, and one that may not always go as planned. In courses and labs, it is often assumed that performing data collection using explicit, step-by-step instructions will always yield expected results. As experts know and students quickly learn, this is often not the case in real research situations. “In my view, immersing themselves in the entire research process helps our undergraduates understand better that perseverance and trial-and-error are often required to master a method, and that plans might need to be refined as results come in,” Dr. Brinkmann shares. “Compared to many other natural and biophysical sciences, Toxicology is a highly applied discipline. Even though we emphasize this very fact in our classes, in-class learning can only convey a limited impression of what is needed to conduct research successfully.”

Supporting student researchers on their academic journeys is important to faculty supervisors. It often takes an entire team to facilitate research work from start to finish, and students never have to feel like they must go it alone.

“Students who are involved in research projects also develop an awareness that research is cooperative,” Dr. Hogan says. “There are often many people in the lab working on aspects of the same project and when they get to be part of a larger initiative, they see how ‘their research’ fits in the big picture. In these cases, I think students’ really have their eyes open to how different groups can come together to solve a problem.”

Overcoming obstacles, working hard & playing harder

During the 2020-21 academic year, students faced a myriad of challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic underway. Respecting changing rules and mounting restrictions did not come without challenges for research students or their supporting faculty.

“Because these experiences are so important for the professional development of our students, we stood by our commitment to undergraduate education even during this challenging past year,” Dr. Brinkmann says. “With limited lab capacities and strict safety protocols in place to keep everyone safe, this was easier said than done. But seeing our undergrads flourish and grow professionally, be excited about their work, do a happy dance when an experiment works out perfectly, and win awards for their work makes it all worth it. I am incredibly proud of our undergraduates, who succeeded under some of the most challenging conditions.”

Communications efforts had to be adapted quickly, and numerous technologies adopted to ensure good communication between students and faculty. Dr. Brinkmann notes that he and his students employed various applications such as WhatsApp, Slack, or FaceTime along with email and phone. Dr. Hogan stresses that the importance of carrying a smartphone could not be underestimated this pandemic year.

Following the requirement to have all campus building doors locked to any unapproved visitors, Tox had more than one lockout incident for both staff and students. “There were instances where someone would quickly run out to their car to grab lunch or start it up on a cold day then realize they left without their phone or building keys, not remembering that buildings are locked 24/7! Luckily no one had to stand outside for too long!” Dr. Hogan laughs.

Overall, the pandemic did not hinder student researcher work efforts. Future students can rest assured that research experiences will continue and can be successfully completed even amidst obstacles. “I was very impressed with the professionalism of our students, who followed all safety protocols diligently and showed an incredible level of resilience and dedication to their projects,” Dr. Brinkmann says.

Celebrating past, present & future student researchers

Research can serve as the bridge between the lecture hall and the outside world. The process of asking a question and designing a process to answer it can bring the pages of a textbook or lab manual to life. “These experiences help our undergraduates contextualize what they read in research articles and learn about in class and prepare them for graduate school or professional careers outside of academia,” Dr. Brinkmann emphasizes.

“We value that our students understand where knowledge in our discipline comes from and how to apply it,” Dr. Hogan adds.

“Personally, I have been brought to tears of joy as I sit in the audience at a conference and watch my student give a platform presentation,” added Dr. David Janz, (PhD), Veterinary Biomedical Sciences Professor & Acting Director of the Toxicology Centre. Witnessing students at the finish line of the research process, “I think this training of students is my biggest contribution to society.”

Navigating the research process is always challenging, but great rewards can be found. If undergraduate students are interested in pursuing a research opportunity, they need only ask questions. Perseverance and the ability to adapt will serve students well before, during and after a research experience. The USask Toxicology program has taken steps to ensure that students have the opportunity to build their own bridge between what they can learn and what they can create.

For undergraduate students who have declared Toxicology as their major, find out more about the TUREP program and other undergraduate research opportunities here.