Person to person: Matt Keefe
The Eberly College of Science actively promotes the opportunity for its students to participate in leading-edge laboratory research. For those prospective students who are weighing the choice between a purely pedagogical institution and an active research university, it often tips the balance to know that Penn State has a number of laboratories that undergraduates can join as early as their first year. One such student who has successfully taken advantage of this opportunity is senior Matt Keefe (’18), a dual-major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Chinese.
“One of my goals was to find a lab to call home for my next four years,” Keefe said. “It’s one of the reasons why I chose Penn State. There is so much research going on here and so many labs.”
Finding a lab, much less the right lab, does take a bit of effort, he cautioned. “I started emailing professors, but most were only taking sophomores; but then a friend got accepted into Gong Chen’s lab and mentioned he needed one more undergraduate student.” Keefe immediately sent Chen an email, but instead of waiting for a response, he went and knocked on Chen’s door the next day. Keefe’s persistence paid off, and he was working in the lab shortly thereafter. Four years later, he is the senior undergraduate researcher in the same lab.
“We use mouse models to understand and treat neurodegenerative diseases like ALS or stroke,” said Keefe. “In the brain, there are these helper cells called glia that can do more harm than good when an injury occurs. In the Chen lab, we try to take these helper cells and turn them into neurons to try to restore function and repair the brain and the spinal cord.”
Keefe has gained significant knowledge and experience from his years alongside other researchers in the Chen lab, and expects to take this experience on to graduate school to continue his work in this area. His words of advice to undergrads hoping to gain similar experience are clear and pointed. “Don’t treat lab like something you can do when you are not doing homework. You can’t just show up for an hour a day. That’s just not enough. You need to take the time to learn what it’s all about by being involved in the whole process to understand what everybody is doing.”
“This is why I came to Penn State,” he continued. “Go knock on doors, and don’t be afraid of being rejected.” This advice has served him well and will likely open more doors for him in the future.