St. John's News

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.”