Graduate Student Highlight: Lauren McKinley
Each week, the Department of Chemistry highlights a graduate student who is doing interesting and exciting work within the department. In this installment of our highlight series, we are featuring Lauren McKinley, who is a third-year student in the Bevilacqua lab.
Lauren studies RNA, specifically a type of RNA enzyme called small self-cleaving ribozymes. Her research focuses on characterizing putative ribozymes that have been predicted, but never studied. Additionally, she is trying to understand the biological role of these ribozymes in plants since there is no universally recognized function assigned to them. To study this, she is looking at how they are regulated in plants and the role that flanking sequences play in mediating their behavior.
This week, we met virtually with Lauren to discuss her life in and outside of the lab! Please enjoy our interview with Lauren McKinley.
Question: How did you get interested in chemistry?
Answer: I’ve been interested in biochemistry for a really long time. Growing up, my grandmother was really sick, and the doctors didn’t know what caused it, so I started an investigation of my own to try and figure out what was wrong. From this I developed a love of discovery, chemistry, and biology that grew into a passion for research. I remember in eighth grade we were given the opportunity to learn the material on our own and then take the test early so we could create our own mini experiments, which I absolutely adored. So in high school I took all the science classes I could get; AP biology and chemistry were my favorites. I didn’t get my first research experience until college though when one of my professors offered a research class based on finding and identifying novel bacteriophages as a means to treat tuberculosis using Phage Therapy. From then on I loved spending time in the lab and doing research, which I continued for the rest of my undergraduate career in different labs before coming to Penn State.
Q: What inspires you as a scientist?
A: There are two things that inspire me as a scientist. The first is the adventure of discovering new things that no one else knows. I always wanted to explain why things in the world are the way they are and being a scientist allows me to fulfill this vision. Secondly, I love the potential impact my work has to help others. Any advances made that contribute even the littlest bit to making a difference in someone else’s life makes the research process worth it to me. Not all of us are going to discover cures for cancer, but we can be part of the system that does that one day.
Q: Why did you decide to come to Penn State?
A: I picked Penn State for a couple of reasons. I really enjoyed the collaborative atmosphere that the department has. I think in science especially the issues we tackle are sometimes very big and working as a team and approaching it from a variety of angles make the discovery process better and also more fun. Secondly, I really liked the research that was being conducted here; it was easy for me to see myself joining a lab and loving what I studied!
Q: Where did you grow up? (Tell us a fun fact about your hometown if you want)
A: I grew up in Trumbauersville, PA, which is a tiny little town in the suburbs of Philadelphia. A fun fact about it is that it’s right next to Quakertown, which at one point in history had the highest number of fast food chains within a certain distance. While this is no longer true the important part is that we have a Chick-Fil-A and three Wawas.
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: One of my favorite hobbies is baking. Since I have a gluten and dairy allergy there isn’t always a plethora of sweets to choose from. As such, I really enjoy trying and developing new recipes that taste no different from regular deserts. I also like to challenge myself so recently I tried to make macaroons, which actually turned out really well. I don’t know if I would call this a hobby, but I like reading fantasy and sci-fi books whenever I have some spare time.
Q: What’s your favorite way to spend a day off?
A: My favorite way to spend the day is to relax and just enjoy life. Sometimes that includes taking a quiet, contemplative walk outside and other times spending hours working on a jigsaw puzzle, cooking homemade soup, or reading while putting on one of my favorite movies.
Q: What’s your dream vacation?
A: I would love to take an extended trip to the United Kingdom and tour both Scotland and England. I’m a really big history buff, and I like architecture, so I would love to explore places like the Tour of London, Hampton Court Palace, and Edenborough Castle. Also, some of my ancestors were Scots-Irish so I think it would be fun to visit some of the places that they came from.
Q: If you could have dinner with anybody (living or dead), who would it be and why? (And what would you eat?)
A: I would probably choose to have dinner with Marie Curie because I would want to know what inspired her to pursue her dreams. She was the first female to win a Nobel Prize, and she achieved this in two different areas of science in a time when there were very few females in STEM fields. I think it would be really interesting to ask her how she herself decided to become a chemist.
Thanks to Lauren for these interesting and thoughtful answers! We hope you enjoyed this interview. Stay tuned for more graduate student highlights in the weeks to come!