Student Profile: Laura Westrate

How would you describe your area of study to your grandmother?

I study a part of the cell known as the mitochondria, which makes the energy the cell needs to survive.  For perspective, if the cell was an animal such as a cat, the mitochondria would be similar to an organ, like the heart.  In the cell, the mitochondria are constantly moving and changing shape to meet energy demands.  I’m trying to find out whether the moving and shape-changing make a difference in how well the mitochondria provide energy.  I predict that the cell will not thrive if the mitochondria can’t change shape readily.  I also predict that this shape-changing will affect how the cell responds to drugs used for cancer therapy.  I spend a lot of my time at a microscope staring at the mitochondria moving around within the cell.  I also use other methods to ensure that the effects I see are caused by the changes to the mitochondria, and not something else going on in the cell.

What is your primary motivation for persevering through graduate school?

The most prominent motivation to finish graduate school is being able to investigate questions/problems that no one knows the answer to, with the hope that it will someday help advance our understanding and treatment of various human diseases. On a day to day basis, I have found a thesis project that makes me excited to get out of bed in the morning and I’m largely motivated by learning the results and outcomes of the experiment I’ve performed days earlier. 

What do you want to do with your degree?

I hope to pursue a career as an independent primary investigator at an academic university or research institute.  Currently my intention is to stay in the mitochondrial field and, while that may change, I am pretty confident that I will stay focused in areas of research that will contribute to our current understanding of human disease.  

How has your previous coursework contributed to your breadth of knowledge?

The coursework at Hope College prepared me for what I am doing now by giving me a wide breadth of knowledge in both the biology and chemistry fields.  My research experience at Hope also gave me a sense of what it takes to succeed with a research project (time, hard work, patience, and a drive to keep going when experiments don’t work or the results are opposite from what you expect).  My coursework at VARI not only supplemented the knowledge base I had coming from Hope, but also gave me the necessary tools to transition from student to scientist.

Did you take time off before starting your Ph.D. degree or come directly from an undergraduate or masters degree program?

I came to graduate school directly from my undergraduate program at Hope College.  I had several years of research experience at Hope and was fairly confident that this was the career I wanted to purse. My project in Dr. Lee’s lab to study the role and function of the N-terminal formamido group on polyamides in binding within the minor groove of DNA gave me my first real taste of what a career in research could be like.  The culmination of my undergraduate research in my first first-author paper, which allowed me to publish my findings in a manuscript for others to read, was the icing on the cake for my research experience.

Do you think there is any value in social networking with other graduate students in non-related fields?

There is always value with finding people to come along side you to celebrate and commiserate with all of the twists and turns of graduate school.  It also provides a new information source to turn to when a question comes up. Meeting other graduate students at national conferences has offered not only friendships across the nation but also a resource to tap into for protocols and scientific/professional advice.

Did your past experiences in life or education help prepare you for graduate school or did you have to develop different strategies to succeed?

College taught me how to be an effective learner but there was a transition once I finished with my coursework and was faced with the daunting task of beginning my thesis work.  My mentor and I devised a thesis project that makes me want to come in every day, and I am driven to design experiments that will help me to find the answer to my current questions (which will undoubtedly lead me to a set of new questions that need answering).  Self motivation becomes critical as the only person holding you back from success is yourself.

What is your favorite stress-reduction technique?

My favorite and probably most effective stress-reduction technique is recreational reading.  I also enjoy hanging out with friends and family, going for a hike, or going to buy a new hardcover book.  If it’s warm outside and there are two good size trees within close proximity, I love slack-lining (essentially tight rope walking between trees).  It’s completely different from anything else and you’re so focused on balancing or maintaining the strength required to stay on the line that you completely forget whatever you were stressed out about.  If you can get a few friends to come along you’re bound to spend more time laughing over each other’s mishaps and tumbles than worrying about which kinetic time point will be best or the result of the next experiment.

What accomplishment (academic or other) are you most proud of?

I am most proud of my first first-author paper.

Are you involved in other community activities and if so, how have they shaped your graduate experience?

 I’m involved in the praise and worship team at my church where I play the flute once or twice a month.  It may not have direct impact on my graduate experience but it does provide the much needed break from science that I need from time to time.

Has your perception of this Ph.D. program changed since you began the program?

Definitely.  I have a much higher appreciation for the way the coursework is designed.  The skills I acquired to be able to synthesize an experimental strategy for the proposed problem at the end of each module are used on a daily basis as I design experiments and drive my own research work.  Writing proposals every four weeks on brand new topics during my first year of coursework has helped me to not only learn how to effectively communicate my ideas but it has also helped foster my ability as a scientist to think outside the box about a current problem in the field. While I came into the program knowing that VARI’s Ph.D. program was uniquely stationed to train us to be effective scientists, I didn’t quite understand to what extent that meant until I was able to directly see the impact of my training in the way I approach my own thesis research a few years later.

If you were asked to put something in a time capsule for each year you have been in the program and this capsule would not be opened for 25 years, what would you contribute?

Year 1: A selection of the research proposal I wrote for the various modules I took in my first year of classes as well as the stuffed Beaker Muppet my Mother brought back from Walt Disney World as a good luck charm for the start of graduate school.
Year 2: The film from my first western blot which was blank, followed by the next western blot I did which worked.  For a good chuckle, I would throw the quarter that had the top part of it chipped off. When I tried to purchase a Mountain Dew ®, the vending machine rejected it and I had to work that night in the lab without any caffeine source.
Year 3:  Some lyophilized siRNA against my favorite genes so that I’ll have a surprise gift to myself in 25 years.  We’ll probably need to install some way to keep them cold though.
Year 4:  Since I’m just starting my fourth year, I can’t be sure what I would put in the capsule but it would probably include a copy of my answers to these questions to read again later.

If you hadn’t been admitted to graduate school, what do you think you would be doing right now?

I would be sitting on an ocean research vessel south of New Zealand studying marine biology or something similar, and in my spare time I would travel to all of the Lord of the Rings filming sites I missed the last time I visited.

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