Summer Undergraduate Research Program - Fred Hutchinson ...

Extra Personal Statement #5
I know that in order to become a successful scientist I must encompass an unwavering
commitment to my work, and an inexhaustible desire to discover far beyond current
knowledge. As a child, my curiosity of nature compelled me to bombard my parents with
questions to which they often replied, “I don’t know, son.” Fortunately, their lack of
knowledge motivated me to find the answers for myself, and I was soon drawn to
science. However, in the deprived city of Richmond, California I never encountered
scientists or other scholars, besides my physician; this is not the ideal medium to nurture
a child’s scientific ambitions. Nevertheless, the values my parents instilled in me of love,
respect, and dedication to work and family will strengthen the relationships I make as I
continue my scientific career. My desire to obtain a PhD stems from my ability to
overcoming obstacles encountered growing up and the ideals inspired from my scientific
research during college.
It was at the University of California Berkeley that my passion could finally be
properly cultivated. Once there, I began my fellowship with the Minority Access to
Research Careers (MARC) by completing the eight-week summer research institute that
involved learning various skills from weekly rotations in eight faculty-research labs in
Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Chemistry. After the training, I was
to conduct research; not pre-determined experiments with known outcomes like- in my
course labs, but actual cutting edge research. Predictably, I was excited to start working
in my very own lab, and I initiated my research career in Professor Angela Vekkor’s lab,
where they explore the structure of the diffusion barrier in the nuclear pore complex
(NPC) as well as the mechanism by which cargo is translocated through it.
The goal of my project was to identify domains of natively unfolded nucleoporins that
specifically anchor them at the NPC; this is part of an on going project to elucidate the
biogenesis of the NPC. Using DNA recombinant techniques, I expressed various
evolutionarily conserved regions of nucleoporins as CFP (cyan fluorescent protein)tagged
fusion proteins in yeast, and visualized their cellular location by fluorescence
microscopy. I detected nuclear envelope localization for a distinct subset of the fusions,
thereby, uncovering the domains (i.e. NPC tethering) in these natively unfolded
nucleoporin that anchor them to the NPC. With the tremendous technological advances,
science is becoming more and more interdisciplinary and, consequently, additional skills
from other scientists performing research in different fields are required. Therefore, in
search of attaining more diverse research experiences, I participated in a summer research
internship at George Washington University.
During this summer internship, I worked under the tutelage of Professor Mark
Valentine to better understand the regulation of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 (PAI-
1). The purpose of the project was to determine how a sirtuin deacetylase, 14-3-3
regulatory protein, and a FOX transcription factor affect the insulin and reactive oxygen
species (ROS) expression of the PAI-1 gene. We measured the influence that each
protein (alone and in different concentrations and combinations) had on the expression of
the PAI-1 gene evaluated by luciferase assays. The results showed that the sirtuin and
FOX protein, individually and when combined, inhibit the insulin and ROS expression of
the PAI-1 gene. The 14-3-3 protein also inhibited PAI-1 expression. When I created an
experimental peptide decoy that inhibits 14-3-3 function, I observed a partial rescued
gene expression. During that eight week-long summer, I learned to work with human cell
lines, acquired an entirely new set of techniques, and produced a significant portion of
data to the Valenitne lab for future publications. It is incredibly rewarding to know that I
have contributed, even in a small way, to the overall pool of scientific knowledge.
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