VCU news

By Sathya Achia Abraham

If it wasn’t clear before her summer research fellowship, undergraduate biology major Jacqueline DeLoyht now knows for certain the career path she plans to follow.

Last summer, DeLoyht spent anywhere from 30 to 40 hours per week in the lab of Jeffrey Dupree, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology in the VCU School of Medicine and DeLoyht’s faculty mentor, investigating the intricate molecular make-up of the central nervous system. Through this work, they hope to better understand diseases such as multiple sclerosis that can profoundly impact the central nervous system.

The experience has given DeLoyht insight early in her education into the daily life of a basic science researcher, and has allowed her to apply the knowledge she has gained in the classroom to the lab.

“This [fellowship] gave me the opportunity to get some real research done,” said DeLoyht.

“Everything I learned in the classroom makes sense now because I see the actual application in the lab. This gives me an added reason to be interested in what I’m studying, because I can see that what I’m learning has a purpose,” she said.

DeLoyht has been one of 15 undergraduate students from all disciplines across the university participating in the VCU Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship Summer Fellowship program. The program funds a limited number of undergraduate student fellowship awards for projects mentored by VCU faculty.

The 2010 participants launched their projects in July, beginning to work closely with faculty mentors. Current student investigators – from the School of the Arts to the Life Sciences to the School of Medicine and beyond – are exploring everything from the impact and importance of Brazilian music in America to learning how to preserve the freshwater aquifers that supply drinking water by studying their ecosystems.

On April 20, these students will have the opportunity to present their work at the Poster Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creativity, which will be held as part of VCU’s inaugural “Research Week: Profiling Student Research,” scheduled from April 18 to April 22.

For DeLoyht, who first began working in Dupree’s lab in the fall of 2009 on a volunteer basis, the fellowship has been a rewarding journey. As a volunteer, she helped with basic tasks around the lab such as dishwashing and genotyping, giving her a chance to observe everything around her. Next was an opportunity to shadow Tony Pomicter, Ph.D., a lab technician working with Dupree, who took DeLoyht through the ins and outs of experimentation, and taught her hands-on skills in the lab.

But once she earned a spot in the fellowship program – following a vigorous application process – DeLoyht had a chance to work on her own research project from scratch. She sat down to develop a proposal and a research question. She mapped out what she hoped to accomplish, the methods she would use and the results she expected. She began running experiments and collecting data in the lab. Then she began the rigorous process of analyzing and interpreting the collected data. Her experiments continue.

Moving her research forward has been exciting, but DeLoyht could not have done it without the encouragement and guidance of Dupree. Through his role as mentor, he has acted as a solid sounding board – engaging her in discussion and helping guide her learning and exploration.

“Before she has completed her fellowship, Jacquie will have followed a research project from the very beginning to the end - which means publication of her research in a journal. During this time she has experienced the excitement that comes from collecting positive results and the frustration that accompanies failure,” Dupree said.

“Jacquie has been rather fortunate - although much of that is due to her hard work - to experience much success. I hope her experience has helped her to decide whether she is interested in pursuing basic science research as a career option.”

She has also learned that not everything goes according to plan. During the course of her project, she came to realize that her original hypothesis was actually wrong. However, DeLoyht did not see this as failure – she took it in stride and learned from it.

She said that being wrong may have been “one of the best things,” because now she’s even more eager to see her project through.

“This experience allowed me to see that this is the career path I wish to pursue. Before the fellowship I would not have known that because I wouldn’t have had a chance to spend 40 hours a week in the lab. Also, it helped me understand the commitment and amount of work required to be successful in this field,” said DeLoyht.

And she’s already proving to herself that she has what it takes. In December 2010, her work was recognized as one of the top three research abstracts among 22 other presentations at the annual meeting of the Central Virginia Chapter for the Society for Neuroscience. Based on this achievement, she was invited to present her research and discuss the work at length with colleagues at the meeting.

In March, DeLoyht will present her work at the 42^nd annual meeting of the American Society of Neurochemistry in St. Louis.

The idea of presenting her work in March has DeLoyht excited, but nervous. “I’m not exactly a public speaker,” she laughed. “But that’s something I’m going to have to learn – and that’s the great thing getting it done now as an undergraduate. I’ll have that experience now before I get to graduate school and know what I’m doing.”

DeLoyht believes her fellowship program experience will give her an added edge when applying to graduate school and provide her with excellent talking points during the interview process.

Plus, she added, she already has a project in front of her that could possibly turn into her Ph.D.

Through the fellowship, DeLoyht’s appetite for research has grown. “It’s piqued my interest more and I’m more motivated. The more I get involved, the more I want to know,” she said.

For more information or to apply for the 2011 Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship program, contact Herb Hill at hhill@vcu.edu or 804-828-4450.