“Research has really taught me how to learn,” says Jesse Pace, a senior Biochemistry major in the Honors College who is spending his fourth summer intensively doing research in the laboratory of Dr. Sandeep Mallipattu.
“You’re doing something that no one else has ever done,” Jesse says. “So even if you’re doing small experiments, in terms of the results, they could have huge consequences. A two-hour experiment can disprove an entire hypothesis, or change the way you think about something.”
Jesse was first paired with his mentor as an incoming freshman in the summer before starting freshman year, as a recipient of the Harvard Lyman Summer Research Scholarship – and has been a productive member of the Mallipattu lab ever since. His research is primarily focused on the Kruppel-Like Factor family of transcription factors involved in regulating cellular processes in the kidney.
He has co-authored 5 publications to date, including recently a first-author review titled “Targeting STAT3 Signaling in Kidney Disease” in AJP-Renal Physiology. He has presented three times at the annual URECA poster symposium, and has also presented at the 2019 Experimental Biology Annual Meeting (Orlando, FL), the 2018 American Society of Nephrology annual meeting (San Diego, CA), and the 2016 Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine Undergraduate Research Symposium. Jesse is also a recipient of the 2018 URECA summer award to support his research activities.
Jesse advises fellow students to get involved in undergraduate research, and to be prepared to throw themselves into their projects.
“Be ready for the time commitment,” he says. “You will get a lot out of it if you put a lot into it. It’s really up to you to push your research and try to make progress.”
Jesse, you are an amazing person. The word “amazing” is used everywhere today, but it really does describe you: intelligence, character, kindness, and many more outstanding qualities make you a very special individual.
You have a future that will make a difference to all of us.
Love, Janet