BY GRACE HAMMERSTROM

Will genetically engineered blood cells one day be used to repair spinal cord injuries? Can patients with Crohn's disease reduce the risk of a recurrence by quitting smoking? Do women who visit clinics for HIV testing tend to have post traumatic stress disorder?

These were just some of the questions student researchers posed at the 18th annual Stanford Medical Student Research Symposium on May 4. In a collegial gathering of medical students, faculty and alumni, some 40 students shared their research activities in oral and poster presentations held in Fairchild Auditorium.

Opening the presentations was Julie Parsonnet, MD, associate professor of infectious diseases and geographic medicine, who heralded the symposium as a wonderful venue for seeing the future of medicine. "Stanford medical students are the most innovative in advancing medicine," she said.

Parsonnet also offered advice for anyone embarking on new research: Love what you do, and you will be successful. "Research is filled with pitfalls," said Parsonnet, who humorously described a number of research setbacks in her successful career. "But you have to keep going. So pick something that interests you." Judging from the enthusiasm students displayed while talking about their research, they seem to be following her advice.

Wrapping up the day-long symposium, Ross Bright, MD, associate dean for alumni affairs, presented awards from the Stanford Medical Alumni Association to six of the student participants: Sarah Beckman, Amarjit Dosanjh and Joshua Eby, for their poster presentations, and Nirav Bhakta, Jeff Goldberg and Jacqueline Welch, for their oral presentations. Beckman and Bhakta were awarded first place in their respective categories and received $250 each; the other winners each received $100.

A sampler of research projects:

• Jeff Goldberg's research asks the question, "Why do axons in the central nervous system fail to regenerate?" Goldberg found that mature axons won't grow without specific chemical and electrical signals. His findings are a first step in learning how to stimulate axon regeneration.
  
  
• In support of efforts to reverse the trend of obesity and inactivity in African American children, Sophia Ford studied how use of an electronic TV time manager influenced children's physical activity levels. She divided 25 children, ages seven to 12, into two groups. One group received counseling and information only. The other group received counseling, information and a TV manager box, a device that uses a password system to limit the amount of television each viewer can watch. Both groups similarly decreased their TV-viewing time significantly, but children in the second group also increased the amount of time they spent outside engaged in physical activity.
  
  
• In another thought-provoking study, Anna Martinez discovered a link between women who visit HIV clinics and post traumatic stress disorder. Of the 41 women who responded to questionnaires, 42 percent appeared to have the disorder, and another 22 percent seemed to have partial cases. According to Martinez, these findings show a need for HIV clinic doctors to screen for post traumatic stress disorder and refer women to appropriate care and counseling.
  
  
• Crohn's disease patients who smoke are more likely to require multiple operations, according to William Ryan, who traveled to England to study the risk factors that lead to the recurrence of Crohn's disease and the need for repeat operations. Conversely, patients who quit smoking are one fourth as likely to require additional operations for recurrence as are their counterparts who smoke. In a tandem study, Ryan found that although Crohn's disease patients recognized smoking's harmful effects on their overall health, only 10 percent realized that smoking increases the risk of developing the disease and requiring multiple operations.