Donna Knightly, manager of radiology at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, demonstrates an X-ray machine for physics students Samantha Forrest ’13, Raisa Sharmin ’13 and Keyan Riddell ’16. Photograph by Mike Bradley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College.

Even an untrained eye could see that there was a problem with the human spine depicted in shades of gray on a computer screen: One of the vertebrae was smaller, darker and denser than the others. It was a compression fracture, a painful collapse of the disk.

In a room deep within St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, just blocks from campus, four ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students paid close attention to the screen image created by a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, and to the two technologists discussing it.

As the students looked on, technologists Barbara Mandy and Brian Laudieri were taking diagnostic images of the injury suffered by an elderly woman. She was being scanned in the adjacent room. Slight and frail, she lay motionless in the “tunnel� of an MRI machine. Only her feet, clad in white socks and with blankets tucked around them, were visible.

The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students were at St. Mary’s on assignment for a physics course. Taught by Michael Durst, a visiting assistant professor, the course Optics of Life took a dynamic, hands-on approach to introducing the students to biomedical imaging technology, from microscopes to MRI.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics Michael Durst talks to his Optics of Life class. Photograph by Michael Bradley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College.

Durst’s 23 students made the short trek up Campus Avenue in November to see the hospital’s imaging facilities during hour-long, small-group tours that he arranged with radiology manager Donna Knightly. The arrangement was typical of the long and fruitful partnership that the college and hospital enjoy. “We dance together as only old friends and neighbors can,� says Knightly.

In addition to the MRI, the students saw demonstrations of ultrasound, with one student even serving as a subject for an ultrasound scan of her kidney, and conventional and computed tomography X-rays.

The visits gave life to the concepts discussed in class, says Samantha Forrest, a senior neuroscience major from Bozeman, Mont. “Things stick with you more when you can see them actually performed,â€� she explains. “I liked being able to talk with the technologists. That’s a viewpoint that you can’t really get from a book.â€�

“Seeing how the machines were used was really interesting,� adds Phi Nguyen, a senior neuroscience major from Methuen, Mass. “Watching how patients were scanned, and the resulting pictures, showed us how the machines worked on a practical level.�

The St. Mary’s visits were part of a course curriculum designed, in part, to attract students to physics, a common goal for 100-level courses in that discipline at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. Durst unveiled the science behind technologies that nearly everyone is aware of and that have clear career implications. It was also explicitly interdisciplinary.

Ultrasound technologist Jared Theberge demonstrates the scanner for Raisa Sharmin ’13 and Keyan Riddell ’16 during a tour of imaging facilities at St. Mary’s Hospital on Nov. 27. Photograph by Michael Bradley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College.

“The idea was that any student at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ could take this course, regardless of background, and be able to get up to speed and keep up,â€� says Durst.

Durst’s inspiration for Optics of Life was his own research into 3-D biomedical imaging that uses optical sectioning, a kind of laser microscopy that can literally see through the surface of tissue without making an incision. About two-thirds of the course was devoted to optics.

Durst reached out across campus and into the community for guests who could make lively and engaging presentations to the class. In addition to the hospital, contributors included:

• Will Ash of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ Imaging and Computing Center, who demonstrated different microscopes;
• Glen Ernstrom, a visiting professor of biology, who discussed his research with worms genetically modified so that their neurons glow when stimulated by certain wavelengths of light;
• and Lewiston firefighters who demonstrated infrared imaging gear that enables them, in effect, to see through thick smoke.

The presentations “made for a really engaging class,� says Forrest.

St. Mary’s radiology manager Donna Knightly shot this X-ray of a few items worn or carried by the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students. Photograph by Michael Bradley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College.

But serious science lay at the heart of the course. MRI scanning, for example, uses magnetism and radio-frequency waves to trick the atoms in living cells into emitting signals that can produce an image.

“You could teach all of physics through this course,� says Durst. “You start to realize why pre-med students have to take physics, and why it’s on the Medical College Admission Test.�

“Students are still figuring out what they want to do career-wise. They can see that there’s a point in learning all this. It’s not just purely academic.�

The class was evenly divided by gender, represented all four class years. Bearing out Durst’s hopes, it attracted majors from both within the physical sciences and outside — two in economics and one each in French and in classical and medieval studies.

“My goal in wanting to teach at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in the first place,â€� he says, “was that students here take courses outside of their major, outside of their comfort zone.â€�

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College is partnering with the Androscoggin Unified Emergency Management Agency, St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, Central Maine Medical Center and Lewiston city services, including the fire and police departments, in an emergency training exercise at the College’s Underhill Arena from 7 a.m. to noon Thursday, Aug. 20.

The training exercise scenario will be based on a mock ammonia release. Underhill, which houses a skating rink, stores approximately 700 pounds of ammonia for use in making ice.

Underhill and sections of the adjacent parking lot will be closed during the exercise. Merrill Gym and the track will still be available for use.

The exercise will provide training in responses of fire, police, Cobra Team (a combined HazMat and evidence collection team), Lewiston Public Works, the 911 Communications Center and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. It will be the first large-scale field exercise ever conducted by the city of Lewiston.

Other participating facilities include Russell Park Manor, D’Youville Pavilion and United Ambulance. A training consultant company, Life Safety Specialists, will facilitate the exercise.

This training will allow ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ Security and Campus Safety office to test the outdoor emergency notification speakers located around campus. A brief test message will be sent through the speakers during the exercise.

No roads will be closed and no businesses will be affected by the exercise, but the public can expect to see 75 to 100 public safety personnel working around Underhill Arena, some in hazardous materials suits.

Funding for the event was provided through a federal Homeland Security Grant.

Devin Wigler’s interest in oncology began when she volunteered at in Lewiston during Short Term. She worked in the Cancer Resource Center, providing literature to patients and their families.

“I wanted to explore the possibility of a career in oncology,” Wigler said, “so I applied to the undergraduate clinical research program at . For ten weeks I was involved in metastatic prostate cancer research at one of the oldest and largest cancer research facilities in the world. I wrote portions of a research article manuscript on the use of the Bone Scan Index for determining cancer progression and predicting overall survival. I also assembled and managed a PET scan database comparing different imaging procedures for detecting disease. I spent two weeks doing inpatient rounds, which was a very enlightening experience.”

A Ladd Internship through the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Office of Career Services provided the funds that allowed her to live in New York City. A Scher Fellowship further offset her costs.

“I learned so much about the biology of cancer, but as a psychology major and pre-med student, I’m also interested in its psychological impact,” Wigler said. “That’s where my internship ties into my senior thesis: I’m analyzing data regarding distress levels and psychosocial needs of newly diagnosed cancer patients for the . I’ve found it very convenient that ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is so close to two hospitals – Central Maine and St. Mary’s!

“The opportunity to do undergraduate research is awesome. It should give me a leg up when I apply to medical school, but it also inspired me to engage in clinical research for a few years first.”

— Virginia Wright