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$Kindergarten Summer Math Calendar - The Park School$

didn’t have any groundbreaking findings,but I began to gain some basiclaboratory skills: the ability to interpretdata and ask critical questions.Following my undergraduatedegree, Dr. Theoharides encouragedme to apply to post-baccalaureateresearch fellowships with the hope thatI would become hooked on researchand commit to pursuing a PhD. I wasambivalent about a career in biomedicalresearch, even during my postbaccalaureate fellowship. I wasn’t surehow many more disastrous days in thelab I could handle. As a rookie, it’seasy to ruin an entire day’s work withone small pipetting error or a misplaceddecimal point. One of the firstthings a newbie to research is told isthat 90 percent of science doesn’twork, so get used to the disappointment.After several years of lab experience,I can balance the frustration offailed experiments and incorrecthypotheses with a love of the scientificprocess and the unique ability toanswer complex biological questions.I am currently working on myPhD in the Department of Pharmacologyat Johns Hopkins. My lab is partof the Center for High ThroughputBiology, where we develop semi-automatedtechnologies that allow forupwards of thousands of experimentsto be performed in parallel. Thisenables us to address bigger questionswhose exploration has been limited bytraditional approaches. My project isfocused on characterizing specificchemical modifications that occur onhuman proteins, resulting in changesin their activities. The human bodycontains somewhere between 20,000and 24,000 unique proteins that arethe workhorses of the cell. When proteinsare mutated, damaged, or disregulated,a host of diseases may result.One major goal of my laboratory is toprofile the complement of human proteinsto better understand how theyare all regulated and organized inorder to gain insight into how theyinteract with one another to executecritical biological functions. With aclear understanding of the fundamentals,we can then identify which genesand pathways are involved in particulardisease states. To study thousandsof proteins simultaneously, my labhas developed a human proteomemicro-array that contains about17,000 individually purified humanproteins that are spotted and immobilizedonto single glass slides. We canthen incubate our human proteomemicro-arrays with DNA, RNA, otherproteins, enzymes, or drugs to understandhow these interactions mightoccur in a cell.If someone had told me six yearsago that I’d be on a path to become abiomedical researcher, I would haveentertained the notion, but doubtedhow I would get there. Thankfully,Park instilled self-confidence that hasallowed me to pursue my passion,despite having no clear road map toreach the goal.It still amazes me that only a fewyears ago the closest I had come tobiomolecules was our eighth-gradeCampbell biology textbook! At thetime, the dogma of DNA→ RNA→protein seemed so abstract. I love thatI am now able to get my hands dirtyand clone DNA to produce protein.Following grad school, I’ll have tochoose between a career in academiaor industry. Either way, I’ll have theopportunity to become a principalinvestigator and run my own lab. Myscientific curiosities have evolved intoan exciting journey. Although I haveno idea how it will end, I am happy tosay it started at Park.I can balance the frustration offailed experiments and incorrect hypotheseswith a love of the scientific process.34 The Park Bulletin | Fall 2010
Alumni from the classes ending in “5” and “0” came backto Park from far and wide on the Saturday of Mother’sDay Weekend to celebrate their reunions. The festivitiestook place in Park’s newly renovated library, where alumni had thechance to both see something new and walk down memory lane.Head of School Jerry Katz, Alumni Committee Co-Chair JohnBarkan ’85, and Director of Alumni Relations Eliza Drachman-Jones’98 all spoke briefly to the assembled crowd before photos andvideos commenced. The party finally broke up when alumnideparted for further revelry at their class-specificdinners off campus. Many thanks to thedozens of reunion volunteers who helped tomake Reunion 2010 a memorable event for allwho attended. We look forward to seeing the“6s” and “1s” next spring!1.Top to bottom: 1. Quinn Spear ’53;2. Christina DeVaughn ’90enjoying her visit back to Park;3. Lulli Ateneh ’00 gets into thePark School spirit2.3.Ali Burnes Balster ’90, Sadia Shephard ’90, and Sadia'shusband, Andreas Burgess, share a laugh.2010The Park Bulletin | Fall 2010 35
Page 3: The Park SchoolFall Bulletin 20102
Page 6 and 7: EW T R U S T E E SCity for Time War
Page 8 and 9: — Class of 2010 —GRADUATION 201
Page 10 and 11: What the Ninth Grade willTake and L
Page 12 and 13: Emily HoytI am taking with me Lilyb
Page 14 and 15: Charlotte RossI am taking the sport
Page 16 and 17: Michela ThomsenI am taking the know
Page 18 and 19: LEARNING SCI16 The Park Bulletin |
Page 20 and 21: Preparing for a Yearlong Reviewof P
Page 22 and 23: What science is worth understanding
Page 24: A L U M N I S C I E N T I S T :SUSA
Page 27 and 28: the local culture. At Tulane Medica
Page 29 and 30: would shout out the real name, “c
Page 31 and 32: Although Nina Frusztajer attended P
Page 33 and 34: I love the scientific process.And i
Page 35: Russell challenged us to build thes
Page 39 and 40: 5.Former Headmaster Bob Hurlbut hel
Page 41 and 42: The Park School Class of 1985Twenty
Page 43 and 44: P A R K S C H O O L C L A S S O F 1
Page 45 and 46: Alumni Notes1933Ruth Crocker Young
Page 47 and 48: e on!) We take Emma back for hersec
Page 49 and 50: ing in Freetown, Sierra Leone, sinc
Page 51 and 52: N O M I N A T I O N S S O U G H T F
Page 53 and 54: working this summer with FINCAEcuad
Page 55 and 56: Next Schools forDeparting Members o
Page 57 and 58: In July, Sadia Shephard ’90 marri
Page 59 and 60: In April, the School hired photogra

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