From engineering dreams to virology breakthroughs

If you wrote a book, what would it be about?
It would be an autobiography, but in a dream world, it would be a biography on Beyoncé.

Skydiving or deep sea diving?
I think I'm meant to be on land, but if I had to choose one, it would be skydiving. There's too much unknown down in the deep sea.

How would you define yourself in one word?
I would say that I am meticulous, very detail-oriented in everything that I do, especially my science.

Were you only interested in science? What inspired you to pursue this career path?
I was mainly interested in science. Growing up, I loved all of my math and science courses in elementary, middle, high school, and so that always had my attention. But I also enjoyed television and experiencing the world through TV shows and films.

We heard that you were initially interested in engineering. What caused you to kind of change your course?
I was interested in engineering initially because I was good in all my math and science courses. I was a first-generation college student, and so all of my family told me, ‘You're good at math and science, you should be an engineer, because that's where the money is.’ I internalized that and carried that with me.

When I first came to the U of A for undergrad, I intended to major in biomedical engineering because I liked biology, but I also thought I should include that engineering aspect that everybody's telling me. That's where my interest in engineering first came. I changed course because I realized that it wasn't the engineering that interested me, it was mostly the science. I took lots of hard physics classes, and I realized that's just not for me, so I stuck with biology.

What was it that brought you to the University of Arizona and then to BIO5?
I am a Tucson native, born and raised here. Number one, it was easy to stay in-state since I was interested in engineering, and I knew that the U of A has strong College of Engineering. Growing up here, I appreciated the pride that Tucson has for the U of A, especially when it comes to sports. In high school, I did lots of volunteering around here andI loved the campus.

As far as BIO5, you kind of landed here just by becoming a member of the lab?
I joined the Arizona Biomedical and Biological Sciences PhD program, and they allow you to do three different rotations. When I joined the program, I was set on cancer biology research, and then I had one open slot for my rotation in terms of research. I thought I'd try something new, and that would be virology research with my current mentor, Felicia Goodrum.

When I came here, I had never been inside this building before. I loved the open bay lab settings and the community here. It feels like good science happens here and I felt a good sense of belonging here at BIO5. It was an easy decision to stay with Felicia's lab and be part of this community.

What was it that influenced your decision to pursue a degree in molecular and cellular biology in particular?
I was meticulous and detail-oriented when I was learning biology. I liked all the evolutionary and ecology stuff that I learned.

Learning about the natural world and the macro scale is important, but what interested me was the micro scale and trying to figure out why we work the way we do at the tiniest level. That's why I chose molecular and cellular biology. I also know that MCB, the acronym for that major, was very great. It was a very strong program in terms of supporting the students and getting them into research programs, which is what I wanted to do.

Can you tell us about what being an “Achievement Rewards for College Scientists” Scholar, or ARCS, means?
The Achievement Rewards for College Scientists, or ARCS, is a foundation that strives to support current scientists in whatever they do. It's about lots of different or individual donors coming together and supporting various students across the country.

To me, it means a lot, especially because I joined Felicia Goodrum’s lab in March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I started my PhD at a time when science was a political issue. I got to see a lot of the work that Felicia has done in terms of advocating for science to the public, trusting science, and combating misinformation that's out there.

What I like about ARCS is that it's about supporting science and its advancement, making sure that students are well-equipped to go out into the world and to do their great science.

It means a lot to be an ARC Scholar. I've gotten to meet with some of the various donors at an individual level. They hear about it, and while they may not understand the exact details of the research I do, they are very interested. It's great to have that tie back to the community.

How did you accomplish winning this scholarship?
I know that every year, the department sends out an email, a call for nominations. My mentor, Felicia, nominated me. I was selected, so I applied for the scholarship. It's a couple month application process.

I learned that I was a scholar, and then I also learned about my specific donor. That's one thing that I like about ARCS, is that they connect you to the donor specifically. I still have written letters to my donor and we are still in contact.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the kind of science that you do in the lab?
I would say number one, I'm a molecular virologist, meaning I like to study interactions between viruses and the host environment. I study the human side of human cytomegalovirus, or HCMV. It is a herpes virus that the global population has. What I'm interested in is understanding why most people have it and cannot clear it. It's because the virus goes into a latent or dormant infection. We're trying to understand the nature of this latency, as we call it, and my work has focused on understanding how the virus is interacting with the host's DNA repair and machinery, and how it may be hijacking it for viral objectives.

How has working on this type of project affected your career in science?
It’s been really rewarding. Number one, I feel like as soon as I get one result, I have 20 more questions. That has made me excited about pursuing a career in science long-term, that sense of discovery, understanding more and more about pathogens that infect us naturally. It's helped me to keep interest in keeping a career in science and also in engaging with the larger scientific community to discuss my findings.

You just recently did your dissertation and got your PhD. Congratulations on that, what are your thoughts on the next steps?
My immediate next step is to do a postdoctoral fellowship at some university. Unfortunately, I feel like it's my time to fly the coop and get out of Arizona since I’ve been here since my undergraduate. 

Long term, I do want to stay in the world of academia and lead my own research lab one day as a professor.

What part do you play in Dr. Felicia Goodrums’s lab?
That's a really great question, especially for now, because I'm currently transitioning from the point of graduation.

I'm staying on a little bit longer as a postdoc to make sure that my projects are wrapped up before I move on. I'm probably one of the more experienced people in the lab, so it's helping me to be a go-to person. I think that it's preparing me for the next steps in terms of my career. I do lots of my own experiments. Of course, I do try to help others in the lab, especially when new people come, and train them in terms of our procedures, but also the way that we think in the culture of the lab and here at the University in general.

Have you had any interesting or exciting discoveries lately?
Yes, I have. Part of the reason why I'm staying here a little bit longer is that towards the end of my PhD, we had an interesting discovery that was born out of a collaboration with Harvard University. 

This discovery relates my research on how the virus impacts DNA repair from the host, and it connects that to potential antiviral therapy.

We think that some of the ways in which the virus is hijacking host DNA repair proteins could impact the response to antivirals against HCMV, and so I want to pursue that further and figure out what's going on.

I joined the research because I loved it, and I love basic science research. We can make so many great discoveries about life at a very basic level. But the fact that this is a more translational project, or a project that has translational impact, was exciting to me because I never saw my work going that far and I had the opportunity to see it through.

Do you have any personal science projects outside of the one we just talked about that you're working on, in addition to some of the other projects in the lab?
Since I have been a graduate student, I have been part of this group called Colors of STEM, and it is a collective of graduate students from various programs here on campus. We particularly host events for undergraduate students and graduate students, mainly people of color or disadvantaged backgrounds, giving them personal professional development training and workshops to help them feel a sense of belonging in science. That's something that I'm very passionate about, and I would love to continue to do as I stay in academia.

Do you have a mentor that's impacted your life?
I do have a few mentors, since you know we're BIO5, science talks, right? We need to shout-out my mentor, Felicia.

I touched on this earlier a little bit, but I feel like I joined the lab at the perfect time, even though I joined in March 2020. I got to see how she was still able to lead us as a team, but also try to do some science advocacy to the public.

That's where I see a lot of the importance of what I do is not just for human health, but also to educate the public about something as serious as cytomegalovirus infection. I have looked up to her and her ability to balance the work she does and take that passion and relay it to a general audience to try to make science more digestible to the public.

I would imagine, given that she is your mentor, she's had an impact on your life and your scientific career. Is there anything in particular that you would like to share?
I look up to her. For her love of science but also love of the fun in science. It's fun to do science, but she also has a lot of fun in talking about science with her colleagues and traveling to conferences over dinner, going from a casual conversation about something going on in the world, somehow bringing science back into it.

It's just that love of science that I appreciate, that you feel like less of a nerd, right? Just because it's something that you're passionate about, that you know can apply to the various aspects of your daily lives. Having fun with it is seeing that it is just a huge lesson for me, and learning to just appreciate what I do and fold it into everything else.

What would you say has been the most pivotal moment in your scientific career?
I think I'll say one of the most pivotal moments was when I realized that research is what I want to do, and that was when I attended a regional conference at Arizona State University (ASU) in Phoenix.

I was an undergraduate, and I had gone alone because I was a scholarship recipient. Part of the scholarship was presenting at this conference, and I had to present a poster for the very first time, so I was nervous.

Once I started to talk about it, people came to my poster, and I just immediately felt comfortable. It felt natural. I was studying plant biology and looking at genetically engineering crops to become more drought tolerant. I have heard a lot of people talking about GMOs and asking ‘Does this mean that you're looking at GMOs?’ I could say yes, but, you know, here's the science behind it, and trying to maybe demystify that. Having the opportunity to discuss my science at that regional conference as an undergrad was when I realized I was nervous, but afterwards, I felt amazing. That's when I realized that this career path is for me.

Do you have any scientific career goals?
I do want to be a professor, eventually, preferably at a large research institution where I can lead a lab of my own and also teach. That's probably one of the biggest things. But within that, I would love to continue to study the intersection of virology and host biology, trying to understand how various pathogens impact human health, and publish high-quality science. Maybe even some with a good translational impact, keeping up the good work that can make the world a little bit better.

What is your ‘why’? What gets you out of bed in the morning?

I feel like I have various ‘whys’, but it all comes down to the sense of discovery; there's a great feeling when I'm in the lab, and I get a result.

There's a moment where you realize, I'm the only person in the world who knows this right now about life, right? That's so amazing. But it's not just that feeling. It's me taking that out and then sharing that with my lab mates, or maybe my lab mates sharing that with me, just sharing that sense of discovery. We all learn something new. It drives me. Taking that and then teaching it to others, I think that I thrive on being a mentor and seeing others learn and watching them connect the dots.

When I discover something, I'm excited to share it with someone else and hear their impressions of it. I feel like it's that community of intellectual curiosity that we all share in the science world that's what drives me and gets me out of bed in the morning.