VCU student chosen as Howard Hughes Medical Institute program participant

By Anna Goroncy
University News Services

Doris Jones, a fourth-year bioinformatics major, has been chosen as a 2007 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunities (EXROP) program participant. 

The ultimate goal of the program is to increase diversity within the ranks of American science professors by giving undergraduate students from under-represented minorities or disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to work in the
laboratories of HHMI professors and investigators. 

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime for Doris,” said Gregory A. Buck, Ph.D., director of the Center for the Study of Biological Complexity and director of the HHMI program at VCU. “Doris will be working in one of the top research labs in the country. We are very proud that one of our bioinformatics students has earned this opportunity.”

This is the third year of the program, and Jones is VCU’s first EXROP program student. She was nominated for the program based on her interest in a research career and her strong academic background. 

“I’m looking forward to the experience of actually working in a research environment. I’m really excited about it,” Jones said.

EXROP participants are matched with HHMI investigators and professors for summer research opportunities. Jones’ mentor will be Graham Hatfull, Ph.D., at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Biology. Hatfull’s laboratory researches the molecular genetics of mycobacteria and of phage viruses that infect mycobacteria, a genus of bacteria that includes pathogens that cause leprosy and tuberculosis.

In the future, Jones would like to do research in genetic diseases.

“This is a special opportunity and I’m glad VCU is participating in this program,” she said. “I think it will great for me as well as other people in the future, especially those who are interested in starting a career in research.

“It’s a great way to break into the field and find out what goes on and get some idea of what to expect,” she added.

In 2006, HHMI awarded $1.5 million to Buck and his colleagues to develop novel programs to bring 21st century systems biology into the introductory biology curriculum. It was through this program that VCU had the opportunity to nominate a student for the EXROP award. The bioinformatics program at VCU, administered by the CSBC under the umbrella of VCU Life Sciences, was launched in 2004 and is unique in Virginia. The program enrolls nearly 60 majors.

The Center for the Study of Biological Complexity is a matrix academic unit of VCU Life Sciences. The center focuses on integrative discovery science, systems biology, and the principles of CSBC to address the challenges of the life sciences revolution of the 21st century. Nearly 100 VCU faculty members in more than a dozen departments and five schools and colleges are fellows. The CSBC administers the undergraduate and graduate training programs in bioinformatics at VCU, and maintains research infrastructure for the support of genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics, and houses VCU’s high performance computing and bioinformatics facilities.