August 08, 2007
Recently, news agencies reported that the number of West Nile
virus cases in the United States is nearly four times what it was a
year ago, portending a possible epidemic.
Among the few who were not surprised by the report was Eric
Strobel, a St. John’s University biological sciences major who this
year was accepted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s
selective
Summer Research Program in Biology, where he is studying
molecular virology.
“The prevalence of infectious diseases throughout the world is a
serious problem,” says Strobel, 19, from Lynbrook, NY. “We
[Americans] don’t really see the most terrible viruses that you
really have to worry about.”
Strobel should know. While many teenagers his age are working
this summer as lifeguards and coffee-shop waiters, Strobel spends
his days in a science lab, maintaining sterile cell cultures and
testing whether the Caribbean-based Dengue virus mediates an immune
response from a protein called TRIP 25.
Like West Nile virus, which originated in Africa, the Dengue
virus has the potential to spread from its country of origin by
infecting a mobile host, such as a mosquito, and people should be
aware of it, says Strobel.
According to his supervisor Lee Gehrke, Ph.D., Hermann von
Helmholtz Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at MIT
and Harvard Medical School, Strobel’s research is helping explain
how cells “detect danger signals” in viral RNA sequences, which can
help them mount protective immune responses.
“His understanding of science is quite sophisticated for his
stage of training,” says Gehrke. “Independence, critical thinking
and technical skill are all important for experimental science, and
Eric is working at quite a high level already.”
The MIT Summer Research Program is arguably one of the country’s
most esteemed of its kind. According to its director, Mandana
Sassanfar, just 17 percent of applicants were accepted into this
year’s program, and Strobel is one of only 18 students
enrolled.
The fact that the program requires a minimum 3.5 GPA held no
bearing on Strobel’s decision to apply. The young scholar currently
has a 3.98 GPA, he is a former recipient of the Silver Key in
Biology award, and recently he was inducted into “Skull and
Circle,” the top honor society within St. John’s College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences.
Credits his St. John’s
Professors
Strobel’s new ties to MIT haven’t stopped him from raving about his
professors back home. He maintains a close working relationship
with several of them, hailing their willingness to keep their
office doors open.
“I’m so grateful for their accessibility,” he says. “I’m able to
stop by their offices at any point, sit down and ask them to expand
on material they discussed in class. It’s something that you don’t
get at every university.”
For the past year, Strobel has worked with one of those mentors,
Associate Professor
Christopher Bazinet, Ph.D., on a day-to-day basis in his
research lab. It was Bazinet who originally referred Strobel to the
MIT program.
Together, Strobel and Bazinet explore the molecular process
through which DNA is packaged into viral capsules. To do this, says
Bazinet, they design genes they believe “direct” the assembly of
viruses, and then they test their design by pairing the genes with
certain viruses known to affect them. Bazinet believes that
investigating viral assemblage strategies will ultimately lead to
more sophisticated antiviral therapies.
It is clear that Bazinet and Strobel enjoy a particularly strong
working relationship, and the professor lauds his protégé for his
bold inquisitiveness. “Eric is really curious about science, and he
has a special kind of intellectual fearlessness that is found only
in the most intrepid explorers and adventurers,” he says.
Listening to Strobel speak, one can immediately pick up on his
adventurous spirit. Asked why he loves biology, the young scholar
points to its complexity: “There’s always a deeper level you can go
to,” he says. “There’s always another answer. You get one answer,
and you’ve got another question. Regardless of whether the
techniques are old or new, things keep changing.”
Eventually, Strobel, who is receiving a stipend for his work at
MIT, will apply to Ph.D. programs, and he is mulling the idea of
one day working for the Centers for
Disease Control. While he admits that he likely will remain a
“man behind the curtain” of sorts, researching and teaching the
molecular mechanisms of virology, he hopes that his research one
day will be applied medically.
“I want to find something that will help someone out there,” he
says, referencing the University’s Vincentian mission to serve
human beings with significant need. “It doesn’t have to help
millions of people, as long as it helps someone.”