Genes in Diseases and Symptoms (GIDAS) is a relatively new club at Plymouth-Canton Educational Park. It officially started in February and is continuing on in this school year. GIDAS is a chapter of a nonprofit organization called miRcore. It was founded at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor by Dr. Inhaan Lee.

According to the miRcore official website, the mission of miRcore is, “to generate testable hypotheses on disease etiology, biomarkers, treatment decisions, and prevention based on RNA profiles.”

As a chapter of miRcore, GIDAS aims to spread the reach of miRcore by creating student led chapters at schools, volunteer programs and fundraising activities.

“Our goals are to inspire students to aspire to make a difference and give them an introduction to the resources that they can use to do so,” said Caleigh Lin, current co-president of the P-CEP chapter of GIDAS.

Every year, GIDAS chooses a new disease of focus to research, study and raise funds for. In past years, the diseases have included lung cancer, breast cancer, diabetic blindness and Multiple Sclerosis. For the 2016-2017 year, the disease of focus is depression.

GIDAS also has two major events throughout the year: a Research Conference in June and The Genes and Health Contest in January.

The Research Conference is a conference where 10 members from the University of Michigan chapter are selected to give an oral presentation about their research abstracts that they have been working on throughout the year. Other students who are still interested and were not chosen for the oral presentations have the opportunity to do a poster presentation instead.

The Genes and Health Contest in January is a competition that tests what members learned throughout the first semester about computational biology and the mechanisms of DNA. The competition includes two rounds. The first is a paper test on the biology portion, and the second is a computer test, designed to test knowledge of databases and analyzing data. There are individual prizes, as well as school team prizes for each round.

“It has been a really great experience so far. It allows me to combine my love for programming and biology into one club where I can explore both and learn with people who have the same interests. I am really looking forward to competition where I can showcase all that I have learned so far, ” said Neha Ray,  first year GIDAS member.

GIDAS meets every other Wednesday in room 120C in Plymouth.