At UCSC, senior Shewit Tekeste has developed a fascination with biology and a commitment to biomedical research. This fall, she will begin a doctoral program at the UCLA Graduate School for Biomedical Research. But her interests and her passion for learning have their roots in Kenya, where she was born and raised.
"My passion for furthering myself with knowledge has gradually grown from my first-hand experience of seeing close family and relatives dying slowly of AIDS and from seeing homeless children suffering from malnutrition, wandering aimlessly around heaps of garbage digging for food," Tekeste said.
"In Africa, many believe that these diseases are a curse that cannot be overturned for sinners who do not live according to the traditional way of life," she explained. "This gets in the way of acknowledging ways to prevent and treat such diseases. It stifles research opportunities for prevention or treatment."
Tekeste's family was originally from Eritrea, but civil unrest there forced them to seek refuge in Kenya. She was born in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, where the family lived until five years ago, when they moved to the United States. Tekeste's family of eight--she has one sister and four bothers--joined her uncle in San Diego, where he helped them get established.
"We stayed with him and his family in their two-bedroom apartment--12 people collectively--for a month before my family moved into a two-bedroom apartment," she said.
As a 17-year-old, Tekeste found assimilation to U.S. culture difficult. "But I learned to use barriers as positive challenges that test my perseverance and to use pressure as my driving force," she said.
Tekeste said her strong determination for academic success derives from her upbringing. "I was raised believing that unless you acknowledge where you are coming from, you will never know where you are heading," she said.
Tekeste is the first from her family to graduate from high school and the first to attend a university. She has clearly made the most of the opportunities she found at UCSC, including the chance to work in a faculty research laboratory.
Tekeste has been working in the laboratory of Melissa Jurica, assistant professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology. She has been supported by UCSC's Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program and, more recently, a Diversity Award for Undergraduate Research in Genomic Sciences offered by the Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering (CBSE).
As a diversity-award recipient, Tekeste participates in the CBSE Research Mentoring Institute (RMI). The program provides undergraduates and graduate students with a research experience in genomic science, ensuring that they acquire the academic services and motivation to successfully graduate from the university and to enroll in an advanced degree program or enter a career in genomic science.
To participate in the RMI, Tekeste was required to develop a project in genomic science. She currently works in a close student-faculty mentor relationship in the Jurica lab, where she learns and uses the tools of structural biology to understand how cellular machines carry out their biochemical functions.
She also enjoys peer mentoring from another RMI participant, graduate student Gabriel Roybal, who also works in the Jurica lab. Roybal encouraged Tekeste to apply for the diversity award; they work closely together on projects in the laboratory.
Research in the Jurica lab seeks to understand a critical step in the process whereby genetic information in DNA is read and then used in cells. The step is called pre-mRNA splicing, and errors in this process are responsible for a large number of human genetic diseases.
"Our group uses the tools of structural biology to understand the cellular machinery that carries out splicing, called the spliceosome," Jurica explained. "Our goal is to build a three-dimensional model of the spliceosome so that we can understand how it is put together and how it works in both normal and disease situations."
Tekeste's project involves the structural analysis of an early phase of the spliceosome, which she purifies and prepares for imaging with an electron microscope. To improve the visualization, she engineered a special protein-binding sequence into the pre-mRNA that makes it possible to label an important part of the spliceosome structure. Tekeste and Roybal plan to use this method to improve the lab's imaging capabilities.
"We collect tens of thousands of electron microscope images, and then we apply software that blends them into a three-dimensional structure," Roybal said. "We label one spot on the complex to help with orientation, so that we can piece the individual pictures together like a puzzle to make the whole image."
Tekeste's determination in carrying out her research and in achieving academic success stems in part from a sense of responsibility to give back to her family. "I came to UCSC focused and ready to graduate early, so I could be of help financially to enable my siblings to at least get to where I am," she said.
The CBSE's Research Mentoring Institute strives to increase the numbers and capabilities of minority scientists and science professionals. The program is designed to allow outstanding UCSC students to pursue research projects in areas relevant to the human genome while providing academic and financial support. The institute is made possible by funding from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).
