Left to right: Chemistry graduate student Annie Marcelino, Professor Lila Gierasch, post-doctorate researcher Eugenia Clerico, and freshman biochemistry major Ian Provenzano discuss results, while in the background, research assistant professor Joanna Swain loads a sample into the 600 MHz NMR, an instrument used to study how protein structure changes during protein folding.
Share
Subscribe
Doing Very, Very Good Science
Professor Lila Gierasch’s students soak up science in the lab of one of UMass Amherst’s top researchers.
On the sixth floor of the Lederle Graduate Research Tower, at the north end of the UMass Amherst campus, there is no hot tub. But an undergraduate can come to Professor Lila Gierasch’s biochemistry lab one or more afternoons a week to “soak up science,” as one member of the group puts it. Gierasch invites students who come, to work hard. “Our standards are high. We want to do very, very good science,” she says. Until they’re ready to actually do good science, students can watch, perform simple lab tasks, and learn. By the time they develop an experiment of their own, they’ve soaked up a lot. They’ve also learned a good bit about the demands of scientific research.
By all accounts, the lab has a special atmosphere. Although it’s a training ground for serious intellectual pursuits, it’s also a place where the rigor of focused research is balanced by openness, warmth, support, and laughter. At a weekly lab meeting, eight to 10 students and post-docs talk easily about their research, while regular “literature lunches” update them on current advances in the field.
Graduate student Annie Marcelino says, “Lila is a wonderful mentor, not only because she is very intelligent and passionate about research, but more importantly, she shows people how to think and formulate insights. In reality, scientific research is not merely acquiring knowledge and facts, it’s knowing what questions to ask and how to find the answers.”
Throughout her career, Gierasch has been equally drawn to teaching and research. Her early curiosity about science was stimulated as an undergraduate at Mount Holyoke College, where the faculty, she recalls, let her know “that anything is possible—that you can do anything.” Intrigued by the intersection of chemistry, physics, and biology, she pursued graduate work in biophysics at Harvard. Drawn to teaching as a career, she took a position at Amherst College, in its early years of co-education. Later, finding that she missed research, she moved to the University of Delaware; she stayed there for eight years. With a growing interest in biological research, she accepted an offer from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she was the first woman to hold the Robert A. Welch Chair in Biochemistry and where she had daily interactions with Nobel Laureates. It was not until 1994 that she returned to New England, to head the chemistry department at UMass Amherst.
No stranger to accolades, she is the recipient of numerous grants, degrees, awards, and distinctions for her work. In June of 2006, she was named a Distinguished Professor at UMass Amherst and introduced as a “world-renowned leader in the study of proteins and peptide structure and folding, and the interaction between proteins and biological membranes.”
Also this fall, Gierasch was one of 13 scientists nationwide to receive a prestigious National Institutes of Health Pioneer Award. The awards support “exceptionally creative scientists who take innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical research.”
How does she feel about the award? “It’s fantastic,” she says. “It’s a very liberating feeling. We can add new instrumentation to make the lab work better and can pursue our research goals with ample funds, and it’s a nice vote of confidence that we’ve picked an important problem.” She has already begun to bring in new post-docs with specific skills and the desire to broaden their areas of expertise. The award’s vote of confidence also helps finance the lab’s growth—with $2.5 million over the next five years to fund equipment and staff.
Undergraduates can join the lab as early as freshman year, developing independence with each year and gaining the skills that will help them transition to graduate school, an academic position, or a research job in industry. Gierasch keeps in touch with students who have moved on to such positions. She says, “I’m very proud when my students do well, when they blossom and have their own careers.”
Whether a student is in biology, chemistry, physics, or a combined major, the Gierasch lab offers the opportunity to develop research methods and cross-disciplinary skills. According to Gierasch, “At UMass, biochemists have the opportunity to work with computer scientists, polymer scientists, chemists, and biomedical engineers.” An early champion of the new Integrated Science Building, she was excited by its recent groundbreaking. Her support of the idea dates back to 1995, “when it was still a glint in the eye,” as she puts it, of campus administrators and trustees. Gierasch knows it will invigorate and facilitate interdisciplinary opportunities. “We’re going to do some very novel things to break down the ‘silo’ model for undergraduate education,” she says.
What compels undergraduates to choose the Gierasch lab? “It’s really fun; it’s really cool,” says Joanna Swain, now a research assistant professor, who began working with Gierasch as a post-doctoral fellow. “In a short period of time, students can become equipped to do some simple experiments and come up with a result no one knew before.” Their being able to use special equipment like a fluorimeter is a departure from the typical undergraduate lab. “We’ll shine light of a certain wavelength on a protein, using the light as a probe to see what changes occur in the protein molecule,” says Swain.
Senior Jeff Bombardier, an honors student in Commonwealth College, finds the lab “a great environment to work in.” He says, “The biophysical methods are incredibly interesting and have huge implications for health and human disease.” Working in the lab may help Jeff decide between a career in medicine or scientific research. He works side by side with grad students and post-docs. When he’s ready, he’ll find the environment conducive to taking chances—or, as he says, “troubleshooting a less-than-terrific experiment.” According to Jeff, “We all like each other and help each other out, and everyone is very knowledgeable.”
Annie Marcelino, a chemistry graduate student who has worked in Lila Gierasch’s lab since 2002, appreciates the intelligence, hard work, and friendliness of her lab-mates. “The lab dynamic works well for me, since my lab-mates end up not just as colleagues but also as my friends.” She adds, “It’s easy to get instant advice about an experiment.”
Over her nine years collaborating with Gierasch, Joanna Swain has learned to value Gierasch’s dedication to students and to research. “Lila shows us very clearly as we’re learning to be scientists what the expectations of the field will be—a certain level of intellectual and logical thinking. She challenges us through her whole attitude towards her work. Her dedication is an inspiration to everyone.”
Whether they come to experiment with fluorescence, hear about ongoing research, or test their readiness for a career in science, UMass Amherst students greatly benefit from an environment where “very, very good science” happens every day.