Kiara Miller

Hi, my name is Kiara Miller. I grew up in Jonesboro, Georgia, and went to college at Savannah State University in Savannah Georgia. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology

I first became interested in science by watching Bill Nye the Science Guy on television. There is an episode in which he explains that there is science in music because of the vibrations and travel of sound, and then there is a huge musical number. Following this, I kept myself actively involved in science by entering a number of science fairs in elementary and middle school.

Because I attended a small liberal arts college where scientific research was not in the forefront, I was my own guide when looking for research opportunities. During my freshman year, I sought out many summer research programs, and I was fortunate to take part in an 8 week summer program at Georgia State University following the end of my first year. The research was funded by the National Institutes on Drug Abuse. My research project included localizing a specific receptor gene in the stomatogastric ganglion of the spiny lobster. After spending time in a graduate level environment and taking ownership of an independent project that yielded fantastic results, I knew that a career in research is what I want.

My primary interests lie in neuroscience, more specifically neurobiology of disease and aging, as well as neuroendocrinology.

My long-term career goals include successfully matriculating through graduate school to later take a postdoc position. However, I am still undecided about whether or not I will go into academia or industry, but lifelong research is a major part of these plans.

I joined a PREP program because although I had research experience, I felt that I needed a more extensive training before heading into graduate studies. I think of PREP as a second chance to prepare for one of the largest milestones in my life and a career as a scientist.

PREP@UGA is the best program for me because not only do I have the opportunity to work on an independent project, the program also gives us many opportunities for interdepartmental interaction among graduate students including enrollment in a few of the graduate courses. PREP also guarantees that we have opportunities to travel and present our research data. The program is truly preparing me for the road ahead.

First, I hope to gain admission to the graduate program of my choice; after all, PREP is tailored to preparing us to become critical thinkers and well-rounded scientists. I also hope to expand my knowledge of infectious diseases. Finally, I plan to build relationships with both of my mentors and my fellow PREP colleagues that will extend beyond this year that we are spending together.

My research mentors are Tara Bracken, a PhD candidate and Dr. Demba Sarr, a research scientist. My faculty mentor is Dr. Julie Moore.

The trophoblast is a layer of multinucleated placental cells that facilitates the exchange of waste, gas and nutrients between the maternal and fetal systems. When a mother is infected with malaria, parasite-infected red blood cells come into contact with the trophoblast. It has been theorized that this interaction leads to an immunological response that includes the recruitment of maternal inflammatory cells to the maternal blood space. This immunological response coupled with the activation of blood clotting, or coagulation, are characteristic of the pathogenesis of placental malaria. We hypothesize that this pathogenic environment prompts the release of small membrane vesicles called microparticles from the trophoblast. We are interested in microparticles and their characteristics because they are known to be released when cells are activated. We also hypothesize that many cell types will release microparticles in response to stimulation with components of the malaria parasite. In this case, the detection of trophoblast-specific microparticles that present indicators for procoagulant activity in maternal blood could serve as a novel diagnostic marker for placental malaria.

For my project, I will employ cell culture and flow cytometry. I will culture a human placenta choriocarcinoma cell line called BeWo. These cells will be stimulated with a number of malarial components including hemozoin, which is a byproduct that is formed when parasites consume hemoglobin inside the red blood cell. Additionally, they will be stimulated with culture medium, uninfected and infected RBC. Supernatants will be collected, and a flow cytometric analysis will be performed to determine the presence of microparticles. We expect that these cells will release microparticles in response to the stimulation with components of the malaria parasite but not in response to the medium and uninfected RBC. We further expect that the microparticles will have malaria-induced procoagulant activity. Using this in vitro approach, I will work with my mentors to refine a novel flow cytometric technique that will be used for the detection of cell-specific microparticles. This is especially significant because after optimizing this technique, we will ultimately apply it to clinical samples from women naturally exposed to malaria.

My name is Kiara Miller, and I am a PREP@UGA scholar.