Local student researches immunity

Benjamin Steele Benjamin Steele, a 2006 graduate of Oak Park High School who is a sophomore studying biology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, has been awarded a research grant under the institute's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships program.

Steele's research topic for the summer fellowship is the susceptibility of mammalian fetuses to infections due to a lack of certain immunities. He will work at the lab of Caltech professor Pamela Bjorkman, PhD, the Max Delbruck Professor of Biology and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Now in its 30th year, the Caltech SURF program offers undergraduates the opportunity to conduct independent research and to work on a oneonone basis with faculty members.

At the end of their projects, the students present oral reports at a one-day conference.