8 minute read
A World of Difference
Sonputri’s efforts in Nepal, UAMS lab examples of her passion
United Nations data reports that Nepal’s population topped 31 million people in 2023. While the nation’s access to clean as well as safe water and sanitation services have improved, 23 percent of the nation’s rural population still lacks acceptable sanitation, according to neverthirst, a nonprofit organization that works on providing funds for water, sanitation and hygiene projects.
During the summer of 2023, Aarohi Sonputri (’24) spent a month and a half in Nepal as part of a Sanitation and Hygiene initiative to help improve that situation. The graduate from Little Rock traveled to Mithila Janakpur in the Mahottari District of Nepal’s Madesh Province in June and July. While there she conducted a needs assessment, led the design for community toilets, engaged in fundraising and conducted educational sessions exclusively for women and children age 12 and older.
Sonputri was able to make the trip through a $17,000 grant from the Center for Integrated Rural Development (CIRD), a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization officially recognized by the government of Nepal. Sonputri contacted CIRD in 2022 about the possible project.
“The process began with an interview in late 2022, where I communicated my interest and outlined the project’s details via an email to the director,” Sonputri said. “I was not expecting a response back to my initial proposal. After this came more interviews leading into April 2023, and in March (2023), I took the initiative to write a grant proposal, which was positively received by CIRD.”
She was inspired by a life science lesson at ASMSA on global disease rates and limited access to vaccines in underdeveloped countries that led to higher mortality rates. Sonputri is a native of Nepal whose family moved to the United States. Her grandmother is from that region, and her family would return for visits.
“This prompted me to investigate specific health challenges in my home country,” she said. That included sanitation and hygiene practices where access to needed services is very low. “So, that’s really heartbreaking to see. That made me want to work there even more.” to purchase school supplies — including uniforms required for school — for the local community. She slept in a sleeping bag on the floor of the CIRD office during her stay.
What she found was a pressing need and a way she could apply the life-science skills she has learned at ASMSA and during an independent research study at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Winthrop P. Rockefeller Institute.
She began researching the Mahottari District through news articles and information on the website of UN Women, a United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women around the world. It was a region she had never visited before. Her research eventually led to the grant, her trip and her work.
“Initiating this program was crucial for me as it offered a chance to make a meaningful impact on community well-being, particularly focusing on women,” Sonputri said. “The Sanitation and Hygiene Initiative aligned perfectly with my passion for addressing critical health challenges, especially in regions affected by open defecation, a topic often overlooked due to its taboo nature when it comes to women.
“I sympathize with and understand the economic challenges faced by students in poverty in Nepal, where many struggle to attend even the free government schools due to the inability to afford uniforms and supplies. I chose to prioritize the impactful use of resources. Additionally, the sleeping bag was very comfortable and convenient,” she said.
Her work wasn’t completed when she returned home. She is actively involved in analyzing data for CIRD’s Women’s Development department. She works specifically with disease rates data, primarily focusing on measuring hepatitis A rates. The analysis is studying the rates in context of the Sanitation and Hygiene Initiative after the installation of the community toilets that Sonputri helped build. Early results are positive with some testing showing hepatitis C rates down 17 percent.
The Nepal project wasn’t Sonputri’s only focus during that summer. She participated in Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Medical Summer Program while working in Nepal. The program was virtual, allowing her to do both by participating in the program while in Nepal. She would spend time at nights in the CIRD office participating in the Columbia program.
“The prospect of leveraging my skills and education to contribute directly to positive change, breaking the silence around women’s sanitation issues, resonated deeply with my values.”
While there, Sonputri was able to communicate with members of the local community by using Bengali, Hindi and Nepali. The native language of Mahottari is similar to Bengali.
“This multicultural approach allowed me to connect with the community, showcasing the interconnectedness of languages and facilitating meaningful interactions during my time in Mahottari,” she said.
While the sanitation projects were the main work of her visit, Sonputri found another way to contribute to the local community as well. Part of the grant funds were designated for living arrangements during her stay in the region. Sonputri instead used those funds
Sonputri has remained busy as a volunteer for programs in Nepal, other nations and at home. She served as a virtual assistant for the Tibetan Refugee Centers in Kathmandu with CARE Nepal, helped teach Afghan women English through the Leaders of Tomorrow program and served as a tutor for elementary subjects to underprivileged girls in India during the COVID-19 pandemic through Educationist. She also was an AP Certified tutor on Schoolhouse. world, a free tutoring website.
Sonputri, who plans to attend Williams College where she’ll study life sciences, used the skills that she learned while developing a therapeutic target for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cancer working in a lab at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to handle and interpret health-related data in Nepal. The cancer research was the focus of her ASMSA Life Science Capstone project.
She was able to identify a small molecule that stabilizes a part of the DNA structure called a G-quadruplex (G-4) within CARD11. Stabilizing that gene region led to the repression of CARD11, thus preventing additional cancer growth. The therapeutic strategy could provide an alternative treatment with fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy and radiation.
Sonputri worked in the lab of Dr. Samantha Kendrick, an assistant professor at UAMS and an associate member of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. She said Kendrick and Kennith Swafford, a Ph.D. student at UAMS who served as a lab supervisor, made her feel at ease. Shadowing others, running experiments on her own and attending lab meetings helped her feel more comfortable.
“The work was definitely rigorous but incredibly interesting, so I was not discouraged from it whatsoever,” Sonputri said. “I think the biggest lesson one learns in a research space is regarding handling hardships. High-achieving students often have the tendency to be discouraged over failures; however, being in a lab where you are bound to have one experiment be unsuccessful once in a while, you learn to question in a way that prompts critical thinking and creativity.”
Her research received various recognition throughout the 2023-24 academic year. In January, Sonputri was selected as a semifinalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search. It is the nation’s most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. She was the only semifinalist from Arkansas.
In February, Sonputri won first-place overall in ASMSA’s West Central Regional Science Fair, qualifying for the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. In March, she won third place in the Best in State Individual Awards at the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair. Her research was also published in the 2023-24 issue of The Columbia Junior Science Journal this spring.
Dr. Whitney Holden, an Instructor of Excellence in Life Sciences at ASMSA, served as Sonputri’s capstone adviser. Holden said Sonputri’s dedication to her research was “nothing short of extraordinary.”
“With over 750 chemicals screened to identify potential inhibitors for a critical pathway in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, her commitment to advancing medical knowledge is unparalleled,” Holden said. “Aarohi’s results stand as the most impressive set I’ve seen in my over 10 years of mentoring high school students.
“Her remarkable achievement as a Regeneron STS semifinalist is also a shining example of the invaluable opportunities provided by ASMSA’s capstone program, especially where we place students in UAMS labs, allowing students like Aarohi to immerse themselves in rigorous scientific efforts.”
