I have an academic position with clinical responsibilities, which means that I conduct research and also care for patients.
Right now, my lab is working to understand how inflammation and injury to endothelial cells—the cells that line blood vessels—can lead to acute lung injury. In response to inflammation, pulmonary endothelial cells leak fluid into the lung. And that can be overwhelming. A patient with a bad case of pneumonia, or anyone suffering from a systemic infection, might become unable to breathe for this reason. We want to know how these cells become leaky, and what we can do to prevent it.
We think that a class of drugs called statins, which are commonly used to lower cholesterol—Zocor and Lipitor are prominent examples—might be able to reduce the degree of leakage in inflamed cells.
We first treated human pulmonary endothelial cells with statins, and we observed that they tighten up vascular barriers and therefore prevent leaking. Next we tested statins in a mouse model of acute lung injury and again found that they served a protective function. We have now moved on to a clinical trial with our patients at the University of Chicago Hospital. If our hypothesis is correct, then statins might become standard treatment for anyone who enters the hospital with an infection.
I worked in a physics laboratory with Professor George Zimmerman, where I generated intercalated graphic compounds. Graphite is composed of carbon atoms. I inserted other compounds between these atoms—a process called intercalation—in order to determine how they affected the conductivity of the graphite.
I had a strong interest in science and I wanted an experience that would allow me to conduct research over the summer. Looking back on it, I realize now that it was an amazing opportunity to experiment and learn under ideal conditions. You had all the freedom in the world to explore, without the necessity of procuring a grant or publishing a paper. You can really push yourself to the limit. It's a time when there really is no bad question, and you have everything to gain.
When I entered the program, I really had no appreciation for how a lab actually functions, and I'm not sure how a high school student could gain that appreciation outside of this experience. The interest BU took in exposing me to how science works was invaluable to the course of my career. I was given a lot of autonomy to work on a well-designed project, and I was really welcomed into lab. I would say if this is your interest, go for it!
My original interests were in math and physics, but I was torn because I did have an interest in caring for people as well. Now, as a research physician, I have both a human and a scientific component to my work. As a high school student, I didn't know that a career like the one I have now even existed.