{"id":4849,"date":"2015-09-22T15:16:32","date_gmt":"2015-09-22T15:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ip-tx-www.eos.ncsu.edu\/tecs\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2024-05-30T15:08:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T19:08:37","slug":"centennial-scholar-from-pcc-graduate-to-the-phd-graduate-program-at-johns-hopkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2015\/09\/centennial-scholar-from-pcc-graduate-to-the-phd-graduate-program-at-johns-hopkins\/","title":{"rendered":"Centennial Scholar: From PCC Graduate to the PhD Graduate Program at Johns Hopkins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
When Jaclyn Smith<\/strong>, a Centennial Scholar and Caldwell Fellow, graduated from the Wilson College of Textiles last May, she took with her an impressive list of achievements: a B.S. in Polymer & Color Chemistry (PCC) \u2013 Medical Textiles Concentration, a B.S. in Biochemistry, and minors in Genetics and Biotechnology. Those credentials and connections she made with past Centennials led her to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where this fall she started in the Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology Ph.D. program. Read how the Centennial Scholarship program helped lead Jaclyn to two summers of research at Harvard with Wilson College of Textiles\u2019 alumni which ultimately helped change her career path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How did you choose to dual major in PCC and Biochemistry at NC State?<\/strong> In the summer of 2013, you interned at the A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School under Wilson College of Textiles\u2019 alumnus Dr. Jacob M. Hooker.\u00a0 How did you find out about this internship?\u00a0<\/strong> What was the process for obtaining the internship? <\/strong> Describe the project you worked on. <\/strong> What classes (or experiences) from NC State did you feel were valuable during your internship? <\/strong> Why did you decide to intern at Harvard again in the summer of 2014?<\/strong> What project did you work on?<\/strong>
When I first entered college, I didn\u2019t know what I wanted to major in. I started out in Textiles and randomly picked PCC since I had enjoyed chemistry in high school. It turned out to be a great spur of the moment choice since I really enjoyed learning about applications of chemistry. When I took the introductory biochemistry course, I really enjoyed the new perspective on the biopolymers I was learning about in PCC. I added the double major to get a complex understanding of the chemistry of biopolymers and their biological functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former PCC undergrad Ian Hill, who participated in this internship in 2011, reached out to me about the chance to work with Dr. Hooker<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I talked with Ian about his experience in the lab and then e-mailed Jacob with my resume asking if I could join his lab over the summer. We Skyped about the summer and then, after I secured funding, it was a done deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I was in the lab, I worked primarily with Post-Doc Dr. Genevieve Van de Bittner on a project to image synapses in the brain. I focused on synthesizing a compound known to bind to a target protein found on synapses. I used Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to determine the chemical structures of the products I made and used liquid chromatography\/mass spectroscopy (LC\/MS) to determine if product was formed by separating compounds in my reaction and measuring the masses. We used methylation as a means to radioactively label the compound of interest, allowing it to be detected by Positron Emission Tomography, a nuclear technique commonly used by doctors to detect physiological changes and chemical reactions in the body. I screened conditions for the methylation reaction using cold compounds and then worked with High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to separate my product from the precursor. I repeated the reaction with radioactive Carbon-11 to radiolabel the compound. The compound was tested to see whether or not it could cross the blood-brain barrier, a protective junction between the blood and the extracellular fluid of the brain. In the end, the compound crossed the blood-brain barrier, but did not have binding specificity and affinity sufficient for imaging applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I used a lot of skills from classes I took in the Wilson College of Textiles. I used the laboratory analytical skills from my PCC lab classes, and I also was able to apply concepts from organic chemistry and PCC 106.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My first summer in the Hooker lab was a new experience for me. There was a steep learning curve since I had never been in a research lab before. I wanted a second summer experience since I knew there was a lot left to learn. While my first summer experience was spent learning the ropes of different techniques, my second summer was a more authentic research experience where I could design and execute my own experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I worked on the same project as my previous summer, but through a new lens. In order to develop Positron Emission Tomography (PET) radiotracers, there must be a way to prove that the radioactive molecules are binding to the target of interest. Changes in the level of binding should be able to give us information about the human brain in a non-invasive manor. I worked to develop an assay that could prove tracer-target engagement. We hope to use the assay to screen molecules quickly to determine if they are good tracer candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n