M E G A N . C A L L A H A N

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in November, 1997.

Megan B. Callahan

Staying on her toes in the lab

When Megan B. Callahan ’98 graduated from Connecticut’s Bristol Eastern High School, she knew she wanted to pursue her interest in the sciences — and perhaps one day attend medical school — and to continue exploring her lifelong love of dance. While at Trinity, she has discovered and applied ways to balance the sometimes competing demands of her deepest interests. In the process, she has turned in not only an excellent academic performance but an outstanding artistic one as well.

Callahan, a neuroscience major, has earned faculty honors for the past two years while serving as a student teaching assistant for classes in neurobiology, biology, and chemistry. Her academic excellence has brought her a United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Connecticut Scholarship. Her commitment to her art has only deepened. A student of ballet for 10 years, she began to study modern dance at the College. Two years ago, she participated in a program that commemorated the 25th anniversary of dance at Trinity. This year she was chosen to perform in the new student dance company, Trinity Unlimited.

Curious and hardworking

Callahan’s adviser, Charles A. Dana Research Professor and Professor of Psychology Priscilla Kehoe, says, “Megan is one of the greatest students I’ve ever known. She is curious and hardworking. She studies to learn and, in the process, performs exceptionally well academically. I respect and admire her because she’s so good in so many different areas.”

Callahan arrived at Trinity with intentions of majoring in biology and enrolled in the Interdisciplinary Science Program (ISP), a non-major honors curriculum exploring interdisciplinary connections between the sciences and the role of science in modern society. In the program, she met with a senior neuroscience major who told her about the research she was doing with Kehoe. Callahan was impressed and began to think immediately about becoming a neuroscience major herself.

A research fellowship

Her own work with Kehoe gave Callahan the necessary experience to become a fellowship research assistant in the graduate school summer research program at the University of Connecticut Health Center in 1996. Working with researchers in the pharmacology department, Callahan used a cell line, derived from cancer cells, to develop neuron-like cells, which enabled her to study neurons and receptors without using actual brain tissue. Specifically, she examined inhibitory receptors and studied the point at which they become functional during neuronal development and how that correlates with the messages encoded in DNA. “They were the most intense 10 weeks of my life,” she says. “Working with a cell line is a very labor-intensive, daily kind of research, and it was a very different kind of work from the work I was doing with Dr. Kehoe.”

Last semester, Callahan studied abroad at King’s College in London where she experienced a different approach to science education. “In the British system, you focus on a specific discipline much sooner than in the American undergraduate system,” she notes. “I took four science courses, which provided a very intensive, advanced kind of learning.”

When she returned to Trinity, Callahan again looked for opportunities to conduct research on what she was learning in the classroom. She was chosen to participate in the premedical summer research program at UConn’s medical school. During the program, she used frogs to develop an animal model for the study of retinitis pigmentosa, a degeneration of the photoreceptor cells in the eye. “We did research for four days and spent Fridays doing rotations in area hospitals,” she explains. “On Fridays we worked with medical residents. We learned about tending to patients and doing rounds, and we asked a lot of questions about medical school. I learned a great deal about what I should expect.”

After the 10 weeks of research, Callahan presented her findings to other students in the program and their faculty sponsors, laboratory staff, and the director of admissions for the medical school. Kehoe was in the audience. “When I saw Megan’s presentation on her frog research, I was impressed with her,” Professor Kehoe says. “It was one of the best talks I’ve seen. If I hadn’t known she was a student, I would have assumed her to be a professor.”

A challenging senior thesis

Callahan is now immersed in her senior research thesis. She will use the brains of guinea pigs to study corticotropin releasing factor receptors, receptors that are involved in stress responses. “Megan has been putting in weekends and evenings on her thesis because the research she’s doing is very advanced,” Kehoe explains. “She has chosen an area of study in which no major research has been done previously. She’s exploring a very challenging facet of this field.”

As focused as Callahan is on neuroscience, she has made time for her other major interest and contributes many hours a week to Trinity Unlimited. “Because the company is in its first year as a formal organization, we’re working on developing a set repertoire so that we’ll be more flexible and able to take advantage of diverse performing opportunities,” she says.

Callahan plans to apply to medical school this summer, but she does not intend to enroll for at least a year. “I want to take a year to teach in an enrichment program for urban kids,” she says. While teaching, she also hopes to become involved in a small modern dance company. Beyond that, Callahan is like a scientist who wants to know the answers to many questions before reaching a conclusion. “I want to gain a better perspective on what’s out there before I commit myself,” she says.

-- Jenica Parker Rogers ’98