Hughes Medical Institute offers summer science grants

“I was watching a melodramatic movie in my science class about a historical depiction of how Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA,” he explained. “I thought it was cool how they tackled the problem, and I started to read more and got really interested in genetics … it just kind of blew me away, and it still does.”

Thanks to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Branigan and other students interested in molecular biology will have the chance to explore their passion by spending the summer working in a laboratory.

In 2007, the Institute provided more than 100 students like Branigan — from Princeton and other universities — with a $3,000 stipend to live on campus and perform research in university laboratories. Any Princeton molecular biology major who is doing lab research for his or her thesis is invited to spend the summer after junior year working under the grant, though qualified freshmen and sophomores may also apply. Most applicants from Princeton are accepted, said Alison Gammie, a senior lecturer in the molecular biology department and the director of the program.

“This is a big learning experience for seniors,” said molecular biology professor Eric Wieschaus, who hosts students supported by the Institute in his lab. “They realize how little time they have and how much time [science] takes. That’s a good lesson in life.”

David Wang ’11, who will participate in the program this summer, already has some idea of what good science takes. After a SARS (sudden acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak in Toronto, the Canadian student began to work with a professor at a local university to develop a vaccine for the disease from transgenic tobacco plants. When he came to Princeton, he started working on a method of retarding the growth of cancer cells, which he hopes to continue to do this summer.

“Throughout high school, a lot of the experiments I did were really similar,” he said. “I’m hoping to gain some new techniques in this lab.”

Hannibal Person ’08, who spent last summer on campus researching the movement of lipoproteins — proteins modified by fat groups — cited learning to take initiative as one of the benefits of the program.

“It gives you a sense of taking the reins,” he said. “Any future position that I go into, I’m going to have the confidence to really formulate projects and have strategies for achieving whatever goals I set for myself.”

Though many of this year’s participants have yet to decide exactly what they will pursue in the lab, many see the program as a good way to narrow their interests within the broad field of molecular biology.

“I definitely want to get some solid laboratory experience,” said Sandeep Raj ’11, a student in the Integrated Science program. “Being in a lab is one thing I see myself doing in the future.”

“What I hope to gain most is a general orientation of what I want my focus in molecular biology to be,” Branigan said.

The faculty, likewise, value the students’ time in the lab.

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“Many of our undergrads end up as authors on publications, which shows that they’re doing real science,” Gammie said. “There’s a lot of amazing research going on.”

The faculty members who are involved praise students for their enthusiasm and dedication.

“You see [students] excited about science and trying to discover things and it reminds you of … where we all started out,” Wieschaus said.

Students often bring a fresh perspective to the laboratory’s research.

Students “are usually very good in terms of asking questions, questioning fundamentals, which we take for granted,” said Trudi Schupbach, a molecular biology professor and researcher supported by the Institute. “Students come in with a fresh mind and ask us why we are doing this, which forces us to rethink things.”

But the program is not just about working in the lab. Students organize social events, from games of basketball to movie nights, and learn about the research of other participants at weekly meetings. The session culminates in a poster session at which all students get to display their work.

The poster session was “nerve-wracking,” said Erin Bush ’09, who studied DNA-binding proteins in malaria last summer. “People come up and ask questions, and they would make suggestions that you hadn’t thought of doing.”