VCU news

By Sathya Achia Abraham

It’s not every day you meet a Division I star athlete with a knack for research.

But then it seems that Ludmila Francescatto can manage anything she sets her mind to doing. The former captain and outside hitter for the Virginia Commonwealth University women’s volleyball team is now a Ph.D. student in Integrative Life Sciences at VCU. She’s shown an ability to thrive in both worlds.

As an undergraduate majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry, Francescatto helped drive the Rams’ volleyball team to the CAA championship in 2005, while maintaining a rigorous training and study schedule – which included a course load of highly technical, occasionally mind-boggling science.

That 2005 championship was the Rams’ first-ever women’s volleyball title in the conference, and Francescatto was named the Most Outstanding Player of the CAA tournament. She later set the VCU single season record for kills (549) and kills per game (4.46) and led the CAA in points per game in 2006. From 2007 to 2008 she served as an undergraduate assistant coach to the VCU volleyball team.

Day in and day out, during her two-year run with the Rams, Francescatto, who is originally from the small city of Fraiburgo in Brazil, made a seamless transition from the court to the biology lab.

But she’ll be the first to tell you it’s no easy task being an athlete in college - it is a definite challenge to balance the hard work on and off the court.

“It was tough being in school and being an athlete because I wanted to do both things well,” said Francescatto, who is now 28.

“In order to do that, I stayed up late to study. I would get up the next day and I would train in the mornings and hit practice in the afternoon,” she recalled. Also, like many athletes, Francescatto endured injuries from time to time, often playing through the pain on the court.

During game season she would travel with the team, taking homework and assignments on the road with her. Her head coach at the time, James Finley, made sure that his players took time to study while traveling.

“I had to study - being an international student meant that I had to work especially hard so that I could get good grades and continue on with my studies in this country,” she said. “It was a lot of sacrifice, but it was worth it.

“Playing volleyball in college, I took it seriously, like it was my job, especially because I was given a scholarship to be here.”

Francescatto came to the U.S. when she was 19 years old to study and play volleyball at Arizona Western College in Yuma, Ariz. At that time, she did not speak a word of English and taught herself a new language as she studied arts and general studies. But she had plenty of natural, raw talent for her game of choice, which she’d been playing since she was 12-years-old. When she wasn’t studying, she was pounding the ball on the court with her teammates at AWC.

Being away from her close-knit family back home in Brazil was difficult – but she was determined to make them proud. She credits a lot of her success to the tireless support of her family and friends.

“For us coming from Brazil to get a degree from a U.S. college is fantastic – it’s a big deal. A friend from home encouraged me to come to the U.S. to study and play volleyball,” she said.

While playing volleyball for AWC, her path crossed with James Finley, head coach for AWC volleyball at the time. After two years, Finley came to VCU, and Francescatto, as well as two of her teammates, transferred to join him.

As her excitement for Rams volleyball grew, so did her desire to pursue biology research. After a two-year run with the team from 2005 to 2007, Francescatto traded in her Rams uniform for a white lab coat.

The research bug
Francescatto knew early that she wanted to pursue research, but needed to build some laboratory skills. When she was still playing hard with the Rams in 2006, she began volunteering in the laboratory of Robert Tombes, Ph.D., professor in the VCU Department of Biology and director of the Center for Integrative Life Sciences Education at VCU.

“What you learn in class can generally be found in the books, but when you can actually do things and see how things work, exchange ideas with others - you learn so much more in the lab setting,” said Francescatto.

Soon after earning her bachelor’s degree and graduating from VCU with a major and honors in biology, and minor in chemistry in 2008, she earned a spot in VCU’s Integrative Life Sciences Ph.D. program.

She was ready to get started on her future as a scientist.

“Ludmila’s work ethic is reflected in her tireless efforts in the classroom and laboratory,” said Tombes, who is the program director for the Integrative Life Sciences Ph.D. program.

“Over the years that I have known Lu, I have seen her work and study through injuries and sleep deprivation without complaining. She is extremely skilled in the laboratory, has super-high standards for herself and always has a smile. She has also made some fundamental discoveries that are relevant to human health.”

Studying zebrafish
Francescatto’s research focus is developmental biology – the study of how organisms grow. Specifically, she studies the growth of zebrafish, which are known to have a genome very similar to humans. The minnow-like fish is important to scientific research as a vertebrate model organism and also to study how different genes work.

Francescatto has been studying the embryos of this tiny fish to learn more about the positioning of their organs in the context of a condition known as heterotaxia – a rare genetic defect. In heterotaxy, organs become abnormally distributed, and Francescatto’s research aims to understand how the defect arises early on in development and to determine what molecular mechanisms are involved.

With a little more than a year left on her dissertation, she has already published three research papers in the scientific peer-reviewed journals “Development” and “Developmental Biology.” She has presented her research to peers while attending various meetings across the country including San Francisco, Albuquerque, Madison and Philadelphia.

In addition, Francescatto has been contacted by laboratories around the world about her discoveries and techniques, said Tombes.

“She is confident, independent and capable and has represented my lab and VCU at international meetings,” Tombes said. “She makes us all look great.”

This past summer, Francescatto had the opportunity to travel to Cape Cod to take part in a conference at the Marine Biological Laboratories. There she attended lectures and seminars led by some of the leading scientists from the Royal Academy of Sciences and got to rub elbows with some Nobel Prize winners.

A scientist and more
Francescatto said that she has learned a lot about life and lab from Tombes and he has helped shape her into the scientist she is today. She said she admires her adviser for the way he leads his lab team, as well as his ability to strike the right balance between work and family life – something she hopes to do one day when she has a family of her own.

“Some people look at scientists as people who just work, work, work, and spend all their time in the lab. But I think Dr. Tombes can balance life very well – he is there for his family when they need him,” she said.

She said that her work at VCU excites her because she enjoys the art of discovery – finding new things that no one has seen before.

“I have gained a lot of experience. In the past seven years I have grown professionally, learned life lessons, grown through personal challenges. I have worked very hard. It was a good decision to come to VCU – I have no regrets,” she said with a smile.

Moving forward, she sees herself getting a post-doctoral position at an academic institution with plans to pursue her research further.

“In the lab, she directs other students and inspires them to work as hard as she does,” said Tombes.

“I predict success wherever she goes and would not be surprised to find her as a professor someday - not many Division I star athletes end up in that profession,” he said.

As for volleyball, after taking a break for a few years, she has recently returned to the sport she has enjoyed so much. Twice a week you’ll still find her on the court, playing in an amateur league at the Richmond Volleyball Club.

The volleyball star is still spiking.