SUMMER AT THE BENCH II: IMITATION OF NATURE

In the second part of a two-part series that originally appeared in Bryn Mawr S&T, we look at a group of undergraduates who experienced the life of a research scientist firsthand through Bryn Mawr's Undergraduate Summer Science Research Program. The College provides 10-week research stipends to between 35 and 45 students each summer. In addition to their work in the lab, students attend weekly seminars and participate in a poster session to present their research to faculty and students. They earn academic credit for research performed in their junior or senior years, and they often co-author articles in scientific journals with their faculty mentors and present their findings at professional meetings.

Chemistry majors Jisun Lee '06, Ronke Imbeah-Ampiah '06 and Shauna Bennett '07 spent the summer in the lab of William Malachowski, assistant professor of chemistry. Malachowski's research focuses on devising efficient methods to make analogs of complex natural products that are used in drug development.

Lee's project involved a method of synthesizing quaternary carbons that combines two reactions: the Birch reduction-allylation and the stereospecific Cope rearrangement. Her ultimate aim is to use the procedure to synthesize (+)-lycoramine, an analog of (-)-galanthamine, which has been approved for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. "The Birch reaction and the Cope reaction were put together in sequence before, but not to make this particular compound," explains Lee. "Basically, if the Birch-Cope sequence works to make the proposed compound, then it would mean that this is a new way to make the natural product." Lee, who plans to incorporate the project into her thesis, spent part of the summer making starting materials that are not commercially available and testing the versatility of the Birch-Cope allylation reaction.

Lee, who had previously done research in a neuroscience lab at a medical school in her native Korea, plans to take the MCAT exam but is also contemplating graduate school. "I've always been interested in clinical studies," she says. The focus on drug synthesis has given her a new perspective, she explains. "I would like to get involved in analyzing drugs."

Lee says she learned an essential lesson during her summer experience: "I was reminded every day that it is important to be careful and take time to think through each and every step of a reaction. The result really shows in the purity and the yield of your product."

Posing Questions

Malachowski's mentoring strategy involves "closer supervision in the beginning, so the students experience some progress," he explains. "Then I back away slowly and see how things go. Initially, I try to explain things to them. At about three weeks in, I encourage them to think about posing questions to themselves about what may have occurred when something goes wrong. Hopefully, the training wheels are off, and they don't even have to leave their hood and come to me."

Imbeah-Ampiah and Bennett aimed to synthesize inhibitors of the enzyme indoleamine-2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO). Tumor cells express IDO, which catalyzes the cleavage of tryptophan, an amino acid. IDO also has been linked to immunosuppression in cancer. Imbeah-Ampiah also worked in Malachowski's lab in the summer of 2004 and hopes the research will serve as a foundation for her thesis.

"Last summer was my first time in the lab and I didn't have too much experience," Imbeah-Ampiah recalls. "But I'm used to the methods and more comfortable this summer." The experience has given her a taste of science's challenges, she says. "There are always questions to ask in the lab. You can do an experiment every day of the week, but every day is different. It's a wonderful experience to put theory into practice." She hopes to pursue a graduate degree in medicinal chemistry and work in either academia or the pharmaceutical industry.

Gaining Confidence

After Malachowski explained the techniques to her, Bennett recalls, "I was surprised that I could handle myself in the lab. I had no prior experience working in a lab and had no idea of what to expect."

She says she prefers full-time research to her lab classes. "In class, you worry about getting your work done and doing it right, but you don't really worry about the chemistry. In the lab, you really care about what you make. I'm happy when I purify something and see the product come out."

The summer research projects are "not only an intellectually stimulating experience in terms of the students' personal growth," Malachowski says. "In addition, there's the practical element. They're learning skills in the lab that are considered valuable in the chemical community, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry. They definitely are benefiting both intellectually and personally."

—by Barbara Spector, for Bryn Mawr S & T

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