Biophysical Newsletter - June 2014

3

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

2014

JUNE

She recently completed her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology. During her time in graduate school, Rivera-Colón found that the most rewarding aspect of her work was seeing her students succeed in achieving their personal and professional goals. Garman says of Rivera- Colón, “Her enthusiasm and support for the undergraduates she mentored led them to working as a well-oiled machine. She showed me how you can trust good undergraduates to be independent, and then watch them take personal responsibility for their projects.” Emily Schutsky worked in Garman’s lab as an undergraduate student, and Rivera-Colón served as her graduate student mentor during her time there. Rivera-Colón had a big impact on Schutsky’s own decision to pursue her PhD. “From working with her for two years,” Schutsky explains, “I was really able to experience first-hand how much she loved science, but even more than that, how she channeled that passion towards impacting others and inspiring young people to pursue degrees and careers in science, no matter their background.” Because of her interest in and dedication to teaching, Rivera-Colón pursued a postdoctoral posi- tion in the Penn-Postdoctoral Opportunities in Research and Teaching (Penn-PORT) Program at the University of Pennsylvania. She was accepted into this program, and is now training in Ronen Marmorstein’s lab at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsyl- vania’s Perelman School of Medicine. Her current project focuses on understanding the structural and biochemical properties of N-terminal acetyltransferases. She explains that, “these enzymes play a regulatory role in different biological processes, some of which are involved in cell prolifera- tion, and defects in this pathway result in cancer. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms for the different members of this enzyme family can aid the development of novel molecular probes and therapeutic compounds.” Next year, she will begin teaching undergraduate students in addition to continuing her research. Up to this point, Rivera-Colón has trained undergraduate researchers in small groups, but soon she will be teaching a large introductory course. She says that this will challenge her to develop a new set of teaching skills, which she will need to achieve her long-term goal of becoming a faculty member at an undergraduate institution. Rivera-Colón says, “Many undergraduate students from small schools that are not near research universities do not really know what research is. I hope to one day be able to train at least a few undergraduate students in basic laboratory techniques and how to read and access scientific literature.” Rivera-Colón recognizes that her goals are a bit atypical, but this does not diminish her dedication to undergraduate education. Few of her peers and mentors have supported her decision to pursue this path. “ Barry Lentz supported me since we met in the [Biophysical Society] summer course,” she says, “He was one of two faculty, with my PhD advisor Scott Garman, to encourage me to pursue a career in undergraduate education. Many people tried to discourage me from doing it because they think I could do ‘better.’ As flattering as that may sound, what is better than educating future researchers?” The biggest challenge Rivera-Colón has faced so far has been understanding what was expected of her each step of the way. “The idea of scientific training is to prepare trainees for a research career, but aside from classes, there is never a concrete set of expectations for graduate students or postdocs…in my experience, you play it by ear until you get it, and those who don’t, drop out of graduate school.” This lack of clearly defined expectations led Rivera-Colón to put the highest possible standards on herself, which has made her journey more difficult. “If more advisors established a basic set of expecta- tions for researchers on the first day of training, there would be a lot more success stories in science. The future of science depends on proper science education,” Rivera-Colón says. Rivera-Colón understands that an important part of science education is informing those outside of the scientific community about the value of research. “Only a small amount of people will read your awesome paper because no matter how interesting it is, scientific work is often very specialized,” she explains, “Not everyone is interested in what you do, so make them see why it is cool.”

Rivera-Colón with students Sarah Tarullo, Emily K. Schutsky, and Shaul Kushinsky at the UMass Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Awards ceremony.

Profilee At-A Glance Institution:

Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylva- nia Perelman School of Medicine Research Area: Understanding the molecu- lar mechanisms of human N-acetyl-transferase activity in cellular processes.