What is Team DRINK?

THE TEAM

We are a group of UMD students in the GEMSTONE program who came together in the start of 2020 in order to address a rampant problem on college campuses.  As college students, we've all become familiar with binge drinking on campus.  The problem is that binge drinking is extremely dangerous and can lead to all sorts of dangerous side effects including comas and death, so we're hoping that we'll be able to add to our knowledge about alcohol abuse.  

OUR PLAN

We have two main research subteams.  Our computational modeling subteam is focused on better understanding the mechanism by which alcohol interacts with the brain.  They will be developing a protein model of the GABA receptor: a protein that binds alcohol leading to several of the side effects of alcohol abuse.  Our public health subteam is focused on understanding the prevalence of alcohol abuse on our campus and in the lives of UMD students.  They will be sending out a survey to students all over campus to gather information on students' experiences with alcohol.  Together, we hope that we'll be able to contribute to strengthening our understanding of alcohol abuse from a multidisciplinary perspective.

HOW WILL WE USE THE FUNDS DONATED?

Our computational modeling subteam is hoping to gain enough funds to purchase a computer with higher processing power that is able to handle the difficult work they are doing in protein modeling, and our public health subteam is planning to use excess funds to support our survey research by providing an incentive for people who participate in our study.  

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at contact.umd.teamdrink@gmail.com

A very special thank you to our mentor Dr. Silvina Matysiak!

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