Hello my name is Eric Gliniak and I am a rising senior studying biochemistry. This summer I am participating in the Brackenridge summer fellowship to continue my work in the Palladino lab. My work revolves around a metabolic disease called Triosephosphate Isomerase Deficiency. This disease is characterized by hemolytic anemia, progressive neurological/muscular degeneration, and a reduced lifespan. Recently, we have developed a novel mouse model which mimics these four major symptoms of TPI deficiency. This new model has opened numerous opportunities for characterizing and further understanding the pathology of this disorder. The purpose of this project is to complete a histological analysis of neuromuscular tissue in both wildtype and symptomatic mice. This will be completed by dissecting out several types of muscles and looking for signs of degeneration in the muscle tissue and the neuromuscular junction. I am excited to share my work with other students in the program, specifically those outside the STEM field to learn to communicate my research effectively. I am also looking forward to learning how research looks like outside of the sciences and simply meeting new people.