Can seizures be linked to SIDS? Adam Nack’s research seeks answers
A summer internship at Boston Children’s Hospital began his quest for information
Adam Nack spent last summer interning at the Boston Children’s Hospital, under the tutelage of his mentor, Robin Haynes. Nack, now a junior majoring in biology and history, first met Haynes via email correspondence, after reaching out to her to learn more about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
“I lost my older sister to SIDS, so I’ve always been interested in understanding what it was,” Nack said. “I’m hoping to go to medical school, so understanding the science behind it was important to me. I reached out to see if she could help walk me through SIDS with literature, and so I could get a basic understanding of the science behind it.”
Nack and Haynes continued emailing back and forth, and eventually Haynes, an assistant professor in pathology at Harvard Medical School, suggested that the best experience for him would be to come to Boston Children’s Hospital and participate in some of the research being done. Nack immediately agreed, seeing it as a valuable opportunity. But then he realized he would have to fund the unpaid experience somehow.
Working with Haynes, he secured funding for his research project, connecting with a private donor through First Candle, an organization committed to eliminating SIDS. But he still had to pay for housing, transportation and other living expenses for the summer. So he turned to Binghamton University’s Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development. He received support from the Michael ’88 and Audra Mallow Internship Fund, which was established in 2020 to back students participating in internships in research, government or public interest.
“I didn’t incur any expenses in the lab because of the Fleishman Center,” Nack said. “The funding paid for my rent, transportation and food. It was a great seven weeks and really good experience.”
The project Nack worked on while in Boston, which explores a potential connection between SIDS and seizures in infants, was a continuation of work in the Haynes lab to provide pathological evidence of hippocampal abnormalities in SIDS.
“We’re looking into two different biomarkers, neuropeptide Y (NPY) and dynorphin, to see if there’s increased expression in SIDS infants as compared to controls,” Nack explained. “I’m doing the analysis now, so we haven’t confirmed our hypothesis, but we think that there might be increased expression in the SIDs cases.”
Nack’s project has continued since he left Boston. He completed the bench lab work over the summer, and now he is analyzing images of the hippocampal area to determine the percent area of signal. His goal is to publish a paper on the project. He is receiving credit through Binghamton’s biology department for his continued work, which he expects could extend well into the 2025–26 academic year. In addition to the prospect of a future publication, he hopes to present his research at a conference later this year.
Nack said this professional experience was invaluable.
“It was a really unique experience to do a research project from start to finish, self-directed,” Nack said. “It wasn’t a structured internship — I went in when I needed to and I did my work. I learned a lot about how labs work and how to communicate in a professional setting.
Nack will complete another internship this summer in pediatric pulmonology, and said he thinks he ultimately wants to go into some form of pediatric medicine.
“I really want to work with children no matter what I do. I want to do something meaningful with my career, to help people.”