Biochemistry senior Timothy Guthrie knows that science and success are about small steps. It’s those tiny strides that drive him to excel both in the lab and in the pole-vaulting pit.

Last summer Guthrie, a student athlete, earned a summer Biochemistry Undergraduate Summer Research Scholarship and spent lots of time in the lab of biochemistry professor Judith Kimble. There he worked, and continues to work, on making different mutations in a protein important for stem cell renewal.

“When I finally get something right in the lab that I’ve been working on for a month or two, it’s a really satisfying feeling,” says Guthrie, who plans to apply to medical school this summer.

Guthrie’s work allows the lab to better understand the molecular mechanism behind stem cell renewal in a tiny roundworm species called Caenorhabditis elegans, used as a model because their stem cells are easier to study than those in humans. Stem cell renewal is essential for the organism to keep producing cells it needs to develop and reproduce. By making different mutations to a protein important to this process, researchers can work to determine the role of the protein.

“The ultimate goal of stem cells is for therapeutic use, but we’ve got to work to understand the stem cells first—and the only way to do that is piece by piece,” says Guthrie. “That’s what Professor Kimble’s lab is doing.”

Getting involved in undergraduate research has helped Guthrie gain critical lab experience and also helped build connections between what he learns about in class and the experiments he performs in the lab.

“Along with knowledge of lab techniques and research, I’ve gained a better appreciation for the scientific discoveries we’ve already made,” he says. “All of those big successes and drugs we’ve discovered were made up of small steps like the ones I get to be a part of in the lab.”

This article was posted in Around the college, Beyond classroom experiences, Health, On Henry Mall, Spring 2017, Undergraduate student scholarships and tagged Biochemistry, Class Act, Grow Spring 2017, Stem Cells, Timothy Guthrie.