Recent Beckman Scholar Now Pursuing Joint M.D./Ph.D.
"I want to be directly responsible for translating basic science into clinical science," says Michael Harper '09, a Beckman Scholar who graduated Phi Beta Kappa and won the Excellence in Neuroscience award for the best cellular-molecular Honors thesis among all Neuroscience graduates.
This fall Mike is pursing a joint M.D./Ph.D. at the University of Colorado - a highly competitive program - with full funding from the Medical Scientist Training Program of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
"The Beckman scholarship," Mike said, "benefitted me enormously and was the most important part of my undergraduate education."
Early Interest Leads to Work in the Laboratory
According to Margaret Saha, Chancellor Professor of Biology, Mike showed great promise right from the start. "Even as a freshman he was so intensely interested in the material covered - always attempting to relate it to everything else he knew."
Under Professor Saha's guidance Mike began working in the lab at the beginning of his sophomore year. The goal for the semester was to learn all of the techniques required to complete a molecular-cellular research project in the field of developmental neurobiology. "During the course of the semester he was able to master DNA isolation, RNA probe synthesis, in situ hybridization on embryonic tissues, and histological analysis of his experiments," Saha noted.
After studying abroad in Germany for a semester, Mike returned to the laboratory the following summer to begin his own independent research leading to an Honors project.
Winning the Beckman Scholarship
In his junior year, Mike applied for and won the grant-funded Beckman Scholar position, with Professor Saha serving as his faculty mentor.
According to Mike, "The Beckman selection process was the first time that I needed to assemble a formal proposal for an independent project. Writing the proposal taught me how to develop an experiment and write about its context and relevance. Presenting the proposal to the interviewing panel was my first serious scientific interview experience."
The Beckman Scholarship includes funding for research, and Saha noted that this allowed Mike to work full time in the laboratory, including during the summer, rather than splitting his time between the lab and an outside job. The funding also allowed Mike to present his scientific findings at the national meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology meeting held July 2008, in Philadelphia, where he was awarded an Honorable Mention for his work.
"The challenge of scientific research," Mike said, "is carrying out all the procedures while keeping the big picture in mind and thinking critically about where to take the experiment next."
The summer following his junior year Mike attended the Beckman Scholars Annual Symposium, hosted by the Beckman Foundation in Irvine, California. The symposium convenes Beckman Scholars from throughout the country to present their research progress and results. It also features keynote presentations by prominent scientific figures and informal, concurrent seminars led by scientists working in academia, industry, and national government laboratories.
"The symposium was the capstone of my Beckman experience. The invited speakers are at the tops of their fields. It is also one of the rare symposia where the focus is on undergraduates, and where all of the other presenters are peers," Mike said.
Senior Year
For his Honors thesis, "The Role of Notch Signaling in Neurotransmitter Phenotype Specification in Xenopus laevis," Mike sought to determine how neurotransmitter phenotype is specified during the development of the nervous system. He hypothesized that the Notch signaling pathway, which works by cell-to-cell contact, was involved in the decision of neurotransmitter phenotype in adjacent cells. His plan for addressing this question was to manipulate Notch signaling by either up-regulating it or knocking it down in the earliest developmental stages, then determining how gene expression was altered by the manipulations.
"It was a challenge to interpret all of the data from the many experiments that I had done, compare them to the existing literature, and pull together a cohesive picture of what my data meant," Mike said. "Professor Saha's guidance and our conversations during revisions were essential to achieving a complete understanding of my project, and for me to be able to articulate the ideas behind the project, the results from the experiments, and the interpretation of the data in the larger context."
Professor Saha noted that Mike also gained experience through his broader service activities, which included tutoring Introductory Biology students and spending time each summer introducing high school students to work in the lab.
