Danielle Amaegbo, a rising junior at Austin College, came to UW–Madison to participate in the Biological Interactions Summer Research Program organized by WISCIENCE. During this 10-week program, Danielle had ample opportunities to get hands-on research experience in the Henzler-Wildman Lab while also learning about research careers and boosting her science communication skills. Plus, she had some time to explore Madison—and even accompany her new friends on a daring adventure. I met with her in the lab to hear about her experience.
To start, could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
My name is Danielle Amaegbo. I grew up in Nigeria, but I currently stay in Melissa, Texas. I go to Austin College in Sherman, Texas. I’m a rising junior. And I’m a biochemistry major and a visual arts minor. I’m the kind of person that when I’m walking around and I see an art piece, I just stop, and I just stare at it and look at everything. So I love art, and biochemistry, too.
Currently, I’m doing biochemistry and biophysics research. A fun fact about myself is that I—well, it’s a fun fact to most people here, so I’m just going to use that—I graduated high school at 15. So I’m currently 18 years old. I didn’t know it was a crazy thing until I came here.
Is that more common where you grew up?
It wasn’t super common, but it wasn’t unusual. No one really praised you for it. But here it’s something special.
What led you to apply for this program?
I really wanted to do research, because after my in-class research in organic chemistry and genetics, I was like, this is such a cool thing, but I didn’t really know what I was going to do with research because everyone said [you have to be a] professor. I really wanted to learn about research and all the other professions, so I looked for opportunities in various schools. And this school stood out to me because it was mainly focusing on genetics, genotype, phenotype, and the environment. And I really enjoyed my genetics class, I was really interested in that.
But what specifically led me to choose this program out of all the programs available was that they really catered to what I wanted to do. They set up interviews—at most programs, when they offer you acceptance, they just give you a mentor, but at UW–Madison, they offered me a meeting with my current PI, to tell me if the research matched. You know, to say, oh, if it doesn’t work, you can move on.My PI told me if you want to cater more to this, we can design a project for you to focus more on this. They want me to really be into it. That’s something that really mattered to me. So that’s why I specifically chose this program, because they seemed like they care about you.
And what has your experience been like so far?
It’s been amazing. So much that I’m really sad about leaving. I didn’t expect to be so attached to this place. But I’ve gotten so attached to Wisconsin, Madison specifically, because there’s so much to do. And everyone has been amazing to me here. And the research has also been amazing because what we’re doing, it’s kind of a little bit novel. I’ve also learned so much about career paths I can take. I’ve made friends with so many people here. So, yeah, my experience has been amazing.
I’ve learned so much about research, and being a woman in research specifically, and being a minority in research. Because the program specifically catered to and didn’t try to ignore the fact that I was a minority, or the fact that I was a woman. So I liked the fact they didn’t dance around it. They told me what I may face, and you know, how to combat that.
So I just I love this place a lot. And I would not trade this experience for anything.
So can you tell me a little more about the project that you’re working on?
I would love to! So basically, I am investigating the role of PACE transporters in antibiotic resistance and susceptibility. PACE transporters are basically membrane-bound proteins found in harmful pathogens that efflux out antibiotics and antiseptics using the proton gradient in the cell.
This project is kind of like a side piece from the main project that my lab does, which really works with EmrE. EmrE is basically like a PACE transporter; they’re multi-drug resistant transporters, but they’re separate families. They found that EmrE could possibly change its mode of transportation, and where three of them cause susceptibility, death of the bacteria, so they can’t resist the antibiotic. So basically, they try to ask, What if we found this huge discovery with this? Can we find it with this, too? Because both of them have the same topology, structure, and arrangement. And not a lot is known about PACE transporters, it’s very novel. It’s really new, and not a lot is done, I think it just came like 10 years ago. So it’s really, really interesting. I’m super excited about it.
So it’s basically like, can this behave like this? That’s the overall goal. Obviously, I won’t be able to achieve that in 10 weeks. So my summer goal is just to test the substrates that are transported by PACE transporters, because not a lot is known about them. Are there new substrates we can get? So I try some known things that the PACE transporters can transport, and some things that are kind of new, that we know that EmrE does transport, you know, to see the differences and learn more about it. Yeah, so that’s basically what I did. And we purified the protein. And we’re going to do NMR, which is like structural experiments just to learn more about the structure of PACE transporters. But not a lot is known, so you have similar arrangement and stuff like, but we’re just assuming that, you know, so we don’t really know it. So hopefully, if this worked out, we will be able to get more information on it.
Is this something that you’re interested in pursuing further?
Yes, if given the opportunity, because when I had my meeting with my mentor prior to coming here, and she mentioned antibiotics, that was all I needed to know. Because I am really interested in drug discovery and clinical research. So I am looking to either do a PhD, an MD, or an MD-PhD, depending on what area I really want to focus on, because I’m strongly interested in both. But you know, even if I do a PhD, I can integrate into clinical research, and even if I do an MD, I can still do drug development, so I’m just going to figure out what pathway is best for me and what I really, really want to do. Both of them sound amazing. So I will probably try to get further experience or internships, just to solidify what path I want to take. But I’m not worried about not being able to do any of the others because they are all related, and I can naturally jump into one.
How do you think your experience here will impact what you do in the future?
Learning about so many careers, opportunities, and pathways I can take with a PhD was kind of overwhelming at first, because I just knew about the forms like biotech, academia, and government. But now I’m learning about patent law, genetics counseling, biomedical engineering—just so much I can do.
This research has strongly made me realize that I really like benchwork and lab work, and I can do that as a career. Because, you know, I can keep changing projects, keep doing different things. And that’s what I really want to do. So it gives me the boldness and the courage, with my PhD application or anything, to say that I like benchwork and I can do benchwork. And it’s given me experience that will really help push me forward.
What has it been like working in this lab specifically?
I love my lab! A specific reason I love it is because my mentor, she really wants me to gain a lot of experience. I did less shadowing and more work. She kind of guided me through it. And I love that. My PI and mentor, they gave me so much creative freedom to do research on what I want to do. They’re like, oh, we are known to do this, but we’re giving you the opportunity to explore all of these. She also has so much respect and confidence in me. I see that with the way she teaches me and the way she corrects me, which is so valuable. I love that so much.
It’s just very encouraging to be in such a lab like this. And this is a standard I have for any lab I look at for a PhD or MD-PhD. It’s like, my standard is through the roof because of the lab I’ve been in. And so I have so much respect and love for my mentor and my PI and everyone in the lab. You know, they’re very open, ready to help me. I can go on and on about how amazing these people are. So yeah, I love them so much.
Is there anything that has been surprising or unexpected for you in this program?
I wouldn’t really say anything was too surprising. But one thing I will say is that, I think I kind of realized how how luck comes into play when it comes to science. Because I think most people that haven’t done a lot of research, when you think about research, you think it goes quickly, or you get answers. And that’s even how my questions were: oh, can we get the structure of this protein immediately? Can we do this? Everything quick, quick, quick. And my mentor had to emphasize that no, it takes years and years to even get a structure, like a small protein. These huge discoveries that we get, they take so long, and they’re based mainly on luck, you know.
And all the results I have, my mentor’s like, you’re really lucky. Because for protein purification, NMR, all the steps we’re doing, you’re really lucky that it happened once or happened five times, because you can do everything perfectly and it would not work, you know, no matter how much you try. So I think I just really understand like, how much like luck comes into play when it comes to like science, you know?
And also not to get too disappointed. Because there was a point in time where like, we did everything we could, we did like six, seven PCRs, and I got frustrated. I don’t think I get frustrated easily, but I got a little bit frustrated! I was like, We’re doing everything right. We’re doing everything correctly, you know, but like my mentor took it down. And she tried a different method that she’s never even tried before. Yeah, I think that’s something that was not too surprising, but I’ve learned strongly.
Is there anything that you would want to tell other students applying for this program?
There’s so much I can say! But I think one thing for your application is that if you haven’t had research experience, but you’ve had an in-class project, make sure you write that. Some people assume that because it’s a class project, it’s not actual research. But they actually have the skills that people who do research already have, and they don’t really know that. So any form of research experience you’ve had in any class, you should write that on your application and express that. That is something important that made you realize you liked research, you know? Because I know a lot of people that don’t write that because they don’t feel it’s research experience, like officially, but actually it is and they will see your skills and they will value that.
Yeah, that’s good advice. Did you get to spend time around Madison?
Yeah, it was super fun. Campus is super different. I went kayaking for the first time here. I went twice. I went boating here. Um…I told my friends to go skydiving, so I’m gonna count that.
Oh my gosh!
I didn’t go skydiving but I went with my friends. I thought of it as my experience because I was there for moral support! I’ve gone bowling. I’ve gone to the movies. I’ve done so many things with my cohort. I’ve gone ice skating, because there’s an ice skating rink there. I played basketball. I’ve done so much.
Do you have any other final thoughts that you wanted to share?
Apply if you’re interested! You never know. I didn’t think I was gonna get into this program, actually. I didn’t think I was gonna get into any program because I didn’t think I had enough research experience. I didn’t think my personal statement was good enough. But to my surprise, I was completely wrong, which was great. So just try applying, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know who’s going to read it and resonate with your story, you know, so just apply, and you might get in!
And all these skills you learn in class, you know, people don’t always take those seriously, but they are actually really helpful. You know, the first thing my mentor asked me was, can you pipette? And I’m like, I can pipette—very well, actually. That’s a skill that some people don’t think they have or that it’s not useful, but it actually is very useful if you’re working with very minute amounts. So that just one of the skills, like PCR, all these other things, I already knew them because of some of the classes I’ve had.