{"id":33553,"date":"2015-05-01T13:54:47","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T18:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=33553"},"modified":"2015-11-11T16:15:33","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T20:15:33","slug":"high-school-students-lunch-and-learn-with-brock-researcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2015\/05\/high-school-students-lunch-and-learn-with-brock-researcher\/","title":{"rendered":"High school students lunch and learn with Brock researcher"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Brock<\/a>

Brock researcher Evangelia Tsiani discusses her work with students at the DSBN Academy during Lunch with a Researcher.<\/p><\/div>\n

Grade 9 and 10 students at the District School Board of Niagara Academy learned what it takes to make it in the world of research and science.<\/p>\n

Brock University health researcher Evangelia Tsiani filled them in during Lunch with a Researcher at the St. Catharines school on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important to inform them of the possibilities that exist,” said Tsiani, associate professor in the Department of Health Sciences, who joined the students for a pizza lunch and presentation.<\/p>\n

“I know that if students set their goals early and prepare themselves, they will have success in university.”<\/p>\n

That point is particularly important for the group of DSBN students attending the event, as they all share a common goal of becoming the first college or university graduates in their family. Tsiani shared with the students her own education journey as a first generation graduate.<\/p>\n

“She showed me that science and research can be a challenge but I can do it,” said Elain Mhlanga, a Grade 10 student and aspiring scientist.<\/p>\n

Jill Russell, Technology Program Leader and Jason Dorinzo, Science Program Leader with the DSBN Academy, won the Lunch with a Researcher for their students through their participation in Research Matters’ online scavenger hunt earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Research Matters is a province-wide campaign to inform the public of the importance of university research.<\/p>\n

The lunch with Tsiani took place in the iHub, a collaborative space at the Academy for innovations in education that Brock has been involved with<\/a> since 2014.<\/p>\n

“Having a Brock presence right here in our own school is a huge benefit for our students,” explained Russell. “They see that Brock isn’t just that place up there on the hill; it’s right here in our school and they enjoy that connection.”<\/p>\n

The students not only learned about the hard work and dedication it takes to become a scientist, but also about the rewards of making a difference through research discoveries.<\/p>\n

“Science is interesting because you can do a lot of different things with it and it can help people in the future” said Kayla Lyndon, a Grade 10 Academy student, who is interested in pursuing cancer research.<\/p>\n

Along with learning about Tsiani’s research, students came away with one important message: that they can be successful in a field that has an intimidating reputation.<\/p>\n

“We talk to the students about things like perseverance and optimism and reliance and I think that’s what Dr. Tsiani brought today,” explained Russell. “The idea that getting a PhD takes a long time and research takes a long time but you can do it!”<\/p>\n

“Something that stood out to me was when she [Tsiani] said, \u2018You’re smarter than you think you are.’ It’s true,” noted Lyndon. “She proved becoming a scientist is something I can do.”<\/p>\n

Tsiani’s research is focused on understanding diseases such as diabetes and cancer at the cellular level. She studies cell signaling mechanisms and examines the effects of plant-derived compounds. Her research goals include finding new compounds\/chemicals that can be used to treat and\/or prevent diabetes and cancer.<\/p>\n

She has recently published papers on the herb rosemary’s potential in treating diabetes<\/a>, the effectiveness of red wine blocking the growth of cancer cells<\/a>, and how the diabetes drug Metformin slows the growth of lung cancer cells and makes them more likely to be killed by radiotherapy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grade 9 and 10 students at the District School Board of Niagara Academy learned what it takes to make it in the world of research and science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":33554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[2961,2962,2960,2959,1023,500],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33553"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36411,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33553\/revisions\/36411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}