Knockout Mice and Mood Disorders
During the summer of 2007, Tim Xu was an intern working under a postdoctoral fellow and a principal investigator at the National Institute of Mental Health. The aim of their study was to explore the involvement of a genetic modification in the treatment mechanisms of antidepressant and antimanic agents.
"After my internship," Tim says, "I realized that I had done a great deal of experimentation, so I decided to write it all up, and voilà!" The result was his chapter award-winning entry in SWO’s Student Technical Communication (STCC), Phenotyping of GluR1-Knockout Mice: Implications in the Treatment of Mood Disorders.
STCC encourages students to develop and demonstrate the technical communication skills they need to enter scientific, technical, and business careers by recognizing excellence in technical communication at the high school level.
Tim is currently a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology in Alexandria, VA. He plans to attend Vanderbilt University in the fall, where he says he "will major in neuroscience and perhaps French as well. In college, I plan to engage in more scientific research, so these same writing skills will come in handy during the rest of my education and beyond."
His entry earned an Award of Excellence in the chapter competition, and it has been entered in the International Student Technical Communication Competition (ISTCC). While waiting to receive the ISTCC judges’ evaluation, Tim expressed his appreciation for the experience, saying "Thanks to the Society for Technical Writing (sic) for this opportunity to share my writing and to receive comments!"