Molly Dougherty, Angeleigh Knapp and Monika Singh are classmates and close friends, all commuter students and all on campus this summer to complete theses on the effects of high glucose conditions on programmed cell death with Associate Professor Dr. Timothy LaRocca. When finished, they will have master’s degrees in molecular biosciences. Dougherty and Knapp also completed their bachelor’s in microbiology at ACPHS as part of the dual BS/MS program.
Dougherty, 27, lives in Saugerties, where she has worked as an emergency medical technician before deciding to pursue further her BS/MS. She hopes to eventually become a neuroscientist specializing in Alzheimer’s disease. Knapp, 23, lives in Colonie and is applying for laboratory positions in quality control. Singh, 27, is a native of India who lives in an Albany apartment with her brother, Assistant Professor Dr. Vir Singh. She is considering a research technician position she has been offered by Cornell University and New York University. All three students hope to eventually pursue their doctorates.
You may see Gutta, a rising sophomore, near the Admissions Office this summer. She remains at work three days a week there as a student ambassador. A microbiology major planning eventually to study medicine at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine through an ACPHS linkage program, she is also a volunteer research lab assistant at Albany Medical College across the street. The lab, which is researching ovarian cancer, is seeking a better understanding of cancer cell behavior that could ultimately lead to reducing chemoresistance and metastasis. In the time she has left, Gutta shadows doctors, volunteers through local religious organizations works at a dance studio and trains for the fall track and field season. Last year, she broke two school records in the sport, tied another and earned an All American title at nationals. If it sounds like she’s possibly too busy, she disagrees. “Everything I do, I truly enjoy,” Gutta said. “So it doesn’t feel like I’m doing it all.”
Byk and Oruko have already participated in the NIIMBL eXperience, a weeklong exploration of the biopharmaceutical industry hosted by the Stack Family Center for Biopharmaceutical Education and Training (CBET). Oruko, a rising junior in pharmaceutical sciences, was a NIIMBL student last year. Byk, who has had a work-study position at CBET for several years, was a chaperone.
Both found the exposure to industry and networking possibilities at NIIMBL so phenomenal that they’re coming back for CBET’s second round in June – both as chaperones this time.
Byk, a pharmacy doctorate student, chaperoned the first NIIMBL cohort through a CBET work-study position she competed for, due to her interest in the biopharmaceutical industry. Now in her fourth professional year (P4) in the PharmD program, she also has a rotation with CBET coming up in the fall and intends to pursue a biopharmaceutical industry fellowship after graduating in 2025.
Oruko, a rising junior in the pharmaceutical sciences program, applied to the NIIMBL eXperience last year for “an in-depth exploration of the journey from the R&D of drug development all the way to someone being able to consume the drug.” He wants to go back, he said, “to go through that industry experience again, and see what I might have missed.”
As chaperones, they will get to attend all the NIIMBL eXperience sessions at academic institutions and biopharmaceutical companies in Albany and Boston.
In addition, Oruko will participate this summer in research at Albany Medical College and the University at Albany’s RNA Institute, where he made connections at last year’s NIIMBL eXperience, that combine his interests in pharmaceuticals and data analysis.