Summer Undergraduate Research Program - Fred Hutchinson ...

human cells. The raw data (in the form of fluorescence micrographs of cells expressing these
constructs) was then used in an in-class case study exercise in an introductory biology class
focused on protein localization. Students were shown either raw (i.e. actual) data versus cartoon
representations of the data, and I collected data on student learning and attitudes. I presented
results of my data at the 2009 National SACNAS Conference in Dallas, Texas and completed an
undergraduate thesis based on the research I conducted.
To further equip myself for graduate school and for a career as a researcher in biomedical
science, I was accepted to the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program. As a
MARC fellow, I have been working Dr. Brad Andersen’s lab on a project that is looking at the
importance of the YPEL-5 protein in the final stages of cytokinesis. YPEL-5 was a protein
discovered in a genome-wide RNAi screen that has a role in cell division. I have been depleting
human HeLa and RPE1 cells of YPEL-5 by RNAi, and I have been able to observe a very late
cytokinesis defect in RPE1 cells, but have not been able to observe any obvious phenotypes in
HeLa cells, suggesting that YPEL-5’s role in cytokinesis might be cell type-specific.
My interactions with graduate students and other undergraduates stimulated my thinking
of research as a career. Cleary, my firsthand experience with the application of the scientific
method and the intense study of the basic mechanisms of cell development added to this
commitment.
I plan on pursuing a PhD in a biomedical field, where I can study human diseases on a
molecular, cellular or physiological level. My passion has always been to help others and I trust
that there are many ways to impact that world and help people through research, as research is
the mechanism by which we begin to understand the basis for disease as well as how to develop
treatments for these ailments. Research is important to me because I have realized being a
physician allows you to treat one person at a time. As a researcher, one can improve (or even
save) the lives of hundreds or thousands or more, thus changing the world for many people, one
project at a time.
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