Jennifer Guerrero in the Daugherty lab. Credit: Sylvia LanatiIf it hadn’t been for a visit to the campus in 2009 for College of Engineering Graduate Study Preview Day, Jennifer Guerrero might not be working in a UCSB laboratory today doing important research on engineered enzymes that could potentially be used to treat patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
While she was an undergraduate studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA (B.S., 2010), a professor there encouraged her to visit UCSB and apply to graduate school here. During her Preview Day visit to UCSB, she was impressed with the research being conducted here as well as the “highly collaborative atmosphere” she found between faculty and departments. In addition, it pleased her to hear from UCSB grad students that they were able to strike a good balance between their research work and their extracurricular activities.
Jennifer – a native of Montebello just east of downtown L.A. and the daughter of two educators – returned to UCSB in the summer of 2010 as a participant in the Summer Doctoral Research Institute (SDRI) program before beginning her graduate studies here. The goal of SDRI, geared toward first-year underrepresented graduate students, was to provide students “with the opportunity to begin a course of research prior to fall quarter enrollment,” according to a welcome letter at the time by Graduate Division’s Admissions and Outreach Director Walter Boggan. “You will enjoy the benefits of hands-on mentoring, advance introduction to your respective program and departmental expectations, and early exposure to the professional academic environment that is UC Santa Barbara,” he wrote to them.
'One of the great things about being a graduate student is that you get to fill in the blanks where most textbooks leave off. I have learned over the years to celebrate the small victories while staying focused on the big picture.'
–Jennifer Guerrero
The SDRI program enabled Jennifer to work for eight weeks in Dr. Patrick Daugherty’s lab identifying peptides that bind to Herceptin, an antibody used in the treatment of breast cancer. “Being able to rotate in the Daugherty lab for the summer allowed me to determine if the lab was a good fit for my graduate studies before choosing my advisor in the fall,” she said.
Jennifer began her graduate studies armed with a newly won NSF fellowship, which she had applied to during her last year as an undergrad at UCLA. She attributes her success at winning the fellowship to her outreach efforts through such organizations as SOLES (a UCLA chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, or SHPE) and SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science). “The NSF review criteria are based on broader impacts in addition to intellectual merit,” she explained. “Having the NSF fellowship has allowed me to work on a project that is high-risk and maybe less likely to receive grant funding.”
Jennifer, who is now a third-year graduate student in Chemical Engineering with an emphasis in Biotechnology working in Professor Daugherty’s group, took some time to talk with the GradPost about her life inside the lab as well as outside of it. She shared with us the challenges of her research; her least favorite thing about grad school; how her greatest accomplishment resulted in a national honor; what she does to “allow my brain to rest”; and more. Read on. …
Please tell us a little about your participation in UCSB’s Preview Day while you were a student at UCLA.
I was very lucky to have heard about the UCSB Preview Day from a professor at UCLA who encouraged me to apply and visit UCSB. At the time, I was narrowing down the schools I would be applying to for graduate studies. During the visit, I was able to speak with graduate students in the Department of Chemical Engineering about their research and graduate life and I also listened to a research presentation given by faculty in the department. I was overall impressed by the research being conducted in the department as well as the highly collaborative atmosphere between faculty and departments at UCSB. I was also happy to hear from the graduate students that they felt UCSB provided an ideal environment to have a good balance between work and extracurricular activities.
What was the Summer Doctoral Research Institute program like for you?
I participated in the Summer Doctoral Research Institute program (SDRIP) during the summer of 2010, before I began my graduate studies. Through the program, I was able to work for eight weeks in Dr. Patrick Daugherty’s lab identifying peptides which bind to Herceptin, an antibody which is used in the treatment of breast cancer. During the summer, I was able to learn the basics of flow cytometry, a technology commonly used in the Daugherty lab, through shadowing a current graduate student. Being able to rotate in the Daugherty lab for the summer allowed me to determine if the lab was a good fit for my graduate studies before choosing my advisor in the fall. I also enjoyed exploring the city of Santa Barbara before the academic year started.
During the summer of 2011, I mentored one of the SDRI participants and incoming Chemical Engineering graduate. It was a great experience being able to impart my knowledge on common techniques in the lab and help train the next crop of students. I was also able to answer many of her questions concerning the coursework and milestones of the first year of graduate studies.
How did these diversity-related programs help you?
I have been very fortunate to have participated in multiple research programs aimed at increasing the diversity of students in the sciences. Had I not participated in these diversity-related programs as an undergraduate, I may not have considered going on to graduate school simply due to the lack of information concerning research and a career in science. Diversity-related programs such as the UCSB Preview Day and the SDRI program have allowed me make more informed decisions when choosing which graduate school I would attend and which professor I would ultimately choose as my advisor.
Please tell us a little about your research.
Jennifer Guerrero presented her work at a Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference. My thesis project involves redesigning the specificity of proteolytic enzymes, which are used in both technology applications as well as in therapeutics. For example, an engineered protease that selectively degrades amyloid-beta, a peptide which aggregates in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), could potentially be used for the treatment of AD. To date, the use of proteases as therapeutics has been limited. A major challenge in developing protease therapeutics is that there currently does not exist a high-throughput platform for evolving human proteases with high specificity for a target substrate. My project aims to create a cell based screen for protease variants that selectively cleave a target substrate using yeast.
As an undergraduate, I became fascinated by the idea of engineering proteins with novel functions using microbes such as bacteria and yeast. When I came to graduate school, I knew I wanted to join a biotechnology-based lab. After joining the Daugherty lab, I spoke with my advisor about potential thesis projects. Having the NSF fellowship gave me the freedom to work on a project that at the time, did not have grant funding. My approach to solving the problem of engineering target-specific proteases has evolved over the past two and a half years but the overall goal still remains. I have thoroughly enjoyed the research process – running into roadblocks, thinking about solutions, and carrying out those experiments in the lab. At the end of the day, it is also nice to be working on a project that has important biotechnological and therapeutic applications.
How did you become interested in biotechnology?
I first became interested in biotechnology as a sophomore at UCLA. During that time, I was actively searching for a lab to join and came across Professor Yi Tang's lab in Chemical Engineering. His lab uses microbes to over-express enzymes from fungi in order to produce important molecules such as cholesterol-lowering and anti-cancer drugs. I was intrigued with the idea of using microbes to do "green chemistry." Traditional multi-step chemical synthesis often generates many toxic byproducts, which is inefficient and expensive. I had never really appreciated biology as a high school student, but once I started reading more about the applied research being done in the field of biotechnology, I enrolled in multiple biology and biotechnology courses in order to learn more. I worked in Professor Tang's lab for three years and was able to learn many techniques used in biotechnology which have been critical in my research as a graduate student.
What has graduate student life been like for you?
Currently, I cannot complain – living in a beautiful city such as Santa Barbara has really made it easy to relax and take breaks from lab work. During my first year of graduate school, I wasn’t able to maintain a good balance between work and extracurricular activities. I worked long hours in the lab and was pretty unhappy. I was mainly concerned with getting results, but working on a hard project means that results sometimes don’t come as quickly as you would want them too. I soon realized that I could not sustain that kind of lifestyle without burning out. Since then, I have made it a point to relax and have downtime at night and during the weekends to do many of the fun activities I enjoy such as running and cooking.
I feel very lucky to be at an institute with so many talented and enthusiastic professors and students. Academic life as a graduate student has been incredibly fulfilling. I enjoy sitting down at a seminar and listening to someone who is passionate about their research. I like that I can take the bus home and discuss science with some of my graduate student colleagues. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a TA for undergraduates in the bioprocess engineering course. There is a constant exchange of academic knowledge and I wouldn’t rather be any place else at this point in my life.
What do you wish you had known before you started grad school?
That it can often be months or even years before you hit a milestone in your thesis project and that patience is important. As an undergraduate, I was so used to constantly receiving feedback from homework and test grades, but research is much different than taking classes. Things often don’t work as you thought they would or how a book says they should. One of the great things about being a graduate student is that you get to fill in the blanks where most textbooks leave off. I have learned over the years to celebrate the small victories while staying focused on the big picture.
What do you like most about grad school and what do you like least?
My favorite thing about graduate school has been the freedom to think independently and creatively about my thesis project and test my ideas in the lab. I often like to look back at my first lab notebook and see how much I have grown in my way of thinking and solving problems. I am certain that over the next few years of my Ph.D. I will continue to grow as a scientist.
What I have liked the least about graduate school has been the uncertainty. I wish someone from the future could tell me that my thesis project is going to turn out great, but for now I have to be patient and keep chugging along.
What has been a source of motivation or drive for you in your graduate studies?
Jennifer with her heroes: her parents. Her mother is a kindergarten teacher and her father teaches preschool in a low-income neighborhood of Los Angeles.My biggest support and motivation for me to continue in my graduate studies has been my family. I come from a large Mexican family and I am lucky that the majority of my family members live in Los Angeles. When I go home, my family always asks how my research is going and my cousins often ask me about what kind of grades they should be getting in high school in order to be accepted into a top college. It makes me happy that I can be a positive role model in their lives and give them advice so they can succeed in their own college careers.
I have also been involved with organizations such as the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) to increase the diversity of students pursuing degrees in STEM fields. As an undergraduate, I was able to mentor two Latina chemical engineering students who were interested in conducting undergraduate research. I was also involved in giving science workshops to disadvantaged high school students in the Los Angeles area. As a graduate student, I have remained involved with SACNAS by speaking with undergraduate students about graduate school and the process of applying. All these experiences have shown me how important it is to have more minority women scientists as role models for these students and have increased my drive to finish my graduate studies.
Who are your heroes or mentors?
My heroes have always been my parents. My mother teaches kindergarten and my father teaches pre-school in a low income, predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhood of Los Angeles. Their passion for teaching and enthusiasm in the classroom is contagious. Since their classrooms are usually the first introduction their students have to school, they make learning as fun.
Jennifer Guerrero grew up in Montebello, just east of downtown Los Angeles.
My parents made sure my brother and I knew the value of an education from a young age and always encouraged us to work hard. Now I have come to appreciate how much an education can change your life by allowing you to explore new ideas, travel, and open up career paths that you may have not considered.
Name an accomplishment you are most proud of and why.
My final year at UCLA I, along with three other students, started a UCLA chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), for which I served as president. I and the other members of the chapter believed it was important to have an organization on campus where minority students interested in research could network with graduate students and professors in order to increase our likelihood of pursuing advanced degrees and positions of leadership. As president, our chapter grew from four students to 30 active members, including graduate students and a postdoctoral fellow. Our group also focused on outreach to the community through tutoring and visiting local community colleges and high schools to speak about research opportunities at UCLA available to them. We also held a large outreach event at UCLA where 300 underrepresented students from Los Angeles district high schools were invited to engage in four science workshops. For our academic and outreach work, the UCLA SACNAS chapter was recognized as the 2010 SACNAS Chapter of the Year at the National SACNAS Conference in Anaheim, Calif.
What do you do to relax? What makes you happy?
One of my favorite ways to relax is by going for a run. I love running outdoors especially along the beach. Running is a way for me to meditate and let go of anything that might be weighing on my mind by focusing on my breathing. I also enjoy going on hikes, playing volleyball, dancing the night away, and cooking – especially Mexican food! I am most happy when I am traveling, especially to somewhere I have never been. A few weeks ago I went camping at Joshua Tree National Park for the first time. I couldn’t believe that my whole life I had been a short car ride away from such a beautiful and interesting place. Now I am determined to visit and camp at as many national parks as possible.
Regarding your love of cooking Mexican food, please tell us what your favorite Mexican dish is to prepare.
I love to fry tacos and serve them with homemade salsas. I mainly cook for friends here in Santa Barbara. Whenever I go home, I love to help my abuelita prepare molé or tamales and probe her with questions so that someday I can make these traditional dishes for my family. My parents and abuelita have taught me almost everything I know about Mexican cooking and making their recipes always makes me feel closer to them.
What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
I completed my first half marathon in November running the Santa Barbara International Half Marathon and am signed up for the Santa Ynez Half Marathon in May. I first signed up for the race to prove to myself that I could finish, but I didn’t realize what an exhilarating experience it would be. Training for the race has forced me to eat healthy and find times to exercise throughout the week.
What do you hope to be doing 5 or 10 years out of graduate school?
After graduate school, I hope to be working at a job that allows me to combine my passions for biotechnology and mentoring students. More importantly, I hope to be starting a family of my own. I would love to be able to settle close to Los Angeles so that my kids will get to spend plenty of time with their grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins during their childhood.
Do you have any advice for current grad students?
Do your best to enjoy life and the city you are living in during your studies. Academic growth is definitely important, but I feel I am most productive in my academic studies when I allow my brain to rest and do fun activities outdoors. Make sure you have a good support network of family, other graduate students, and also friends outside of graduate school. Also, try your best not to complain and have fun along the journey.
Jennifer Guerrero, a native Southern Californian, only recently discovered the beauty of Joshua Tree National Park. Now she plans to visit and camp at as many national parks as possible.