This summer I worked in the lab of Dr. Ken Jacobson in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
The lab studies the structure-activity relationship of G-protein coupled receptors and small molecules. In this, I was tasked with the synthesis of various new drugs to work as antagonists against a specific type of receptor. The receptor I worked on has been implicated in the inflammatory response in relation to asthma as well as certain types of liver diseases and cancers. Through my work, we were able to add to the library of known compounds that antagonize this receptor and help elucidate leads for better treatments of these diseases.
At this experience I was able to further develop my abilities as a chemist, learning new ways to troubleshoot and problem solve. I was able to experience the environment of a large academic lab as well as work alongside accomplished scientists and postdocs who were able to guide me through my project. In the future, I hope to continue as a professor of chemistry.
Carin Rollins ’94 and John Marlow ’90 are two Colgate graduates who are rapidly becoming household names in biotech. Both were invited back to Colgate on February 11, 2019 to speak about their experiences as innovators and industry leaders. The event, “How Liberal Arts Grads are Driving Innovation”, was co-sponsored by Career Services, Thought Into Action, Colgate’s Biology department, Neuroscience program, and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
Rollins is CEO and co-founder of Hinge Bio. Inc, a California-based biotechnology startup putting multimillion-dollar pharmaceutical innovations on the market. Marlow is co-founder and senior vice president of RingCentral, a cloud-based telecommunications company that boasts 4,500 employees and offices on four continents. Marlow also serves as legal director of Brainsonix, an ultrasound-based brain mapping system intended for faster and less invasive surgery and treatment.
RingCentral was among the first corporations to design wireless, centralized communication systems, intended to break away from the clunky, on-site phone boxes used by many corporations when the company was founded in 2003. Today, they’re the largest business communications provider in the world, and still growing rapidly as many businesses modernize their systems.
John Marlow ’90 (left) and Carin Rollins ’94 (right)
“Innovation, to me, is a way of thinking,” Marlow said. “We just replaced hardware with software, and that was a big thing.”
Rollins agreed. “You have to show that a prototype is working—that the market is pulling for your product,” Rollins said. “Otherwise you won’t go anywhere.”
Both Marlow and Rollins admitted that being an innovator and entrepreneur demands a tremendous amount of work—and some luck. Marlow used his own experience as evidence.
While seeking out funding for RingCentral in 2003, he was rejected by hundreds of investors during formal meetings. But he happened to run into a Class-A investor at a bar. That individual “instantly got it,” Marlow said, and agreed to fund the project. That support led to a second top-level firm investing as well. While it wouldn’t have been possible without a functional product, the amount of painful luck was, according to Marlow, “undeniable.”
Rollins also reflected on her experience at Colgate during the seminar. “The skills I learned in the liberal arts gave me the skills I needed to succeed,” Rollins said. “It’s how I am able to wear so many different hats as a CEO and entrepreneur. I wouldn’t be where I am without Colgate.”
This summer, I worked for a non-profit organization in Karatu, Tanzania called FAME (Foundation for African Medicine and Education). Their mission is to improve the quality and accessibility of medical care in rural Tanzania and they provide patient-centered, rather than profit-oriented care to all, even those who cannot afford it. I was given the opportunity to shadow doctors in the hospital’s inpatient, outpatient, and maternity wards. Often, I was able to assist the medical team in minor procedures and surgeries as they were more than willing to teach me and I was eager to learn from them. Aside from working in the hospital, I created an oral hygiene program for primary students and presented the program at many schools in the region. It involved teaching children how to maintain proper oral hygiene and I provided students with toothbrushes I made from a local “toothbrush tree” and taught them how to make one themselves so they had a sustainable way to practice these techniques.
This experience has been eye-opening. I worked with Tanzanian and Maasai patients every day and through this work I was able to develop a greater sense of humanity and empathy for others. I found through my time here that my purpose in life is to serve the poorest of the poor throughout the world, because no one deserves to be deprived of basic human needs such as quality health care simply because they cannot afford it or if it is unavailable. I will return to Colgate with an enhanced worldview.
In general, I believe it is incredibly important and valuable to venture out into the world and experience foreign cultures. By immersing myself within Tanzanian culture and learning Swahili, my experience working at the hospital was greatly enhanced. Apart from the cultural benefits of working at FAME, I was able to witness and assist with many things in the hospital that would not be possible for undergraduates in a pre-med internship in the U.S.
Alexandra Marrone ’16 conducting lab research at the National Institutes of Health.
This summer I was able to work for the National Institutes of Health. I worked in the NIDDK, or the Institute for Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney diseases. The NIH is located in Bethesda, MD, but I was lucky enough to live in DC for the summer. My lab was looking at the effects of a certain growth factor, TGF-Beta, on different tissues of the body in regards to diabetes and obesity. My work was primarily with neurons, which was unexpected because I had literally no neuroscience background when I entered the lab! I had to do a lot of hard work and reading in order to get a handle on what I was doing, but it has been totally worth it. Just learning about how to learn all the new topics for lab research has been a great skill in itself. I think that is one of my biggest takeaways from this experience. Lab work isn’t about knowing a ton about your topic of research, but having the mind to ask the right questions.
