{"id":24398,"date":"2023-04-10T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T10:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=24398"},"modified":"2023-04-13T09:40:44","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T13:40:44","slug":"furman-engaged-biochemistry-gangam-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-engaged-biochemistry-gangam-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman Engaged: Biochemistry, Gangnam style"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Elizabeth Gordon \u201923 won a Freeman Fellowship<\/a>, which supports students seeking summer internships in East Asia and Southeast Asia, she had a destination in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI picked Seoul, South Korea,\u201d said Gordon, a biology major on the biomedical sciences track<\/a> and avowed K-pop fan.<\/p>\n

The aspiring physician assistant worked with CRCC Asia<\/a> to be paired for an internship with SAIB & Co<\/a>., a South Korea-based woman-led company founded in 2018 by Jiwon Park to create \u201cfemale-friendlier\u201d sexual wellness products. (The brand name flips the word \u201cbias,\u201d reflecting the company\u2019s goal of \u201coverturning the gender bias to destigmatize women\u2019s engagement with sexual activity.\u201d)<\/p>\n

In June 2022, Gordon traveled to South Korea with a group of fellow CRCC interns and got to work.<\/p>\n

Cranberries and chemistry<\/h3>\n

One of the company\u2019s products is CranProB, a feminine wash containing cranberry extract \u2013 which has been observed to have anti-inflammatory effects \u2013 and a probiotic called lactobacillus, \u201ca bacteria that helps balance the vaginal microbiome and maintain homeostasis,\u201d Gordon explained.<\/p>\n

\"Elizabeth

Elizabeth Gordon ’23 (second from left) and colleagues, wearing traditional clothing known as “hanbok,” outside Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea, in the summer of 2022.<\/p><\/div>\n

To bolster its marketing of CranProB, SAIB assigned Gordon and another intern the job of reviewing and compiling research into the effectiveness of cranberries and probiotics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted me to find research papers and patents and experiments done to prove that cranberries have these properties,\u201d she said. \u201cI worked nine hours a day five days a week for a month, and it was one of the best experiences of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon and her colleague would summarize their findings for their English-speaking supervisor (\u201cHer English was 10 times better than my Korean,\u201d Gordon said), who would then translate them into Korean for SAIB\u2019s researcher.<\/p>\n

Regarding cranberries and UTIs, Gordon left Seoul with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends, because everyone is different,\u201d she said. \u201cPurely scientifically, there are chemicals in cranberries that will help with inflammation, but in cosmetics-based medicine they don\u2019t always work because of people\u2019s different vaginal biomes or what they eat or what kind of product they\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

What she learned about those cranberry chemicals intrigued her, however, and when she came back to Furman she had proanthocyanins on her mind.<\/p>\n

She decided to expand upon her internship to analyze the research into how proanthocyanidins can help stop UTIs caused by E coli. Gordon will present her meta-analysis on April 14 during Furman Engaged<\/a>, a day full of events highlighting Furman\u2019s diverse variety of immersive, high-impact engaged learning experiences.<\/p>\n

Culture and confidence<\/h3>\n

Her time in Seoul was about much more than biochemistry, she said.<\/p>\n

After work, Gordon would head out with her fellow CRCC interns \u2013 many of whom she\u2019s still in touch with \u2013 to explore neighborhoods like Gangnam, Insadong and Itaewon, sample Tteok Mandu Guk (dumpling soup with rice cakes) at the food stalls in Gwangjang Market, and tour cultural landmarks like Gyeongbokgung Palace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you rent their traditional clothes, called \u2018hanbok,\u2019 you can get into the palace for free,\u201d she said. \u201cWe got to choose the colors and the style, and we just walked around and appreciated everything. It was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond learning about proanthocyanins and Tteok Mandu Guk, Gordon\u2019s experience in Korea taught her about herself, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt showed me that no matter where I am, I can still connect with people,\u201d she said. \u201cI never felt more confident being independent before.\u201d<\/p>\n

After getting her B.S. degree this spring, Gordon plans to stay in Greenville and work as a medical scribe to accrue the experience hours she needs to apply to a physician assistant program. And she certainly has some travel plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping one day I\u2019ll go back to Korea,\u201d she said. \u201cI know there\u2019s never been somewhere I wanted to go back to so badly.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Furman Engaged and Clearly Furman: The Campaign for Our Third Century<\/h3>\n

We\u2019re excited to connect the 15th Annual Furman Engaged with our campaign launch<\/a> to amplify and showcase all that our students work toward during the year, and how deserving they are of our support. Join us for this signature event and others April 13-15 as we feature the best that Furman has to offer. Learn more at www.furman.edu\/campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Furman Engaged: April 14<\/a><\/h4>\n

Furman Campaign Launch Weekend: April 13-15<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth Gordon \u201923 studied the effects of cranberries on UTIs for a South Korean company \u2013 and developed a taste for Seoul food \u2013 during a summer internship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":24403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,58,30],"tags":[1945],"class_list":["post-24398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology","category-internships","category-top-stories","tag-furman-engaged"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}