Pre-freshman program prepared student for APS fellowship
Gabriela Timoney, '11, came to Richmond intent on majoring in biology. After taking introductory chemistry and organic chemistry, she realized she loved chemistry as well.
“I like seeing how chemistry works in the biological sciences. Biochemistry gives me the best of both worlds,” said Timoney.
Timoney, a first-year student in the School of Arts & Sciences, spends her days in biology professor Linda Boland’s laboratory where she researches voltage-gated potassium channels and the inhibitory affects of fatty acids which may be critical to synaptic memory formation. As a student with a year of lab experience under her belt, she’s comfortable working with Boland and other student researchers. But she didn’t always feel this way.
“Going into the lab as a pre-freshman, before I’d even started college, I was really intimidated. The two other girls in the lab weren’t much older than me, but they seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Dr. Boland had tons of confidence in them. I wondered if I was going to be in that position at some point,” said Timoney.
It didn’t take Timoney long to get up to speed. Within a year of starting her research program with Boland, she has already received a fellowship from the American Physiological Association.
“Dr. Boland gives you a project and it’s your project to work on. It can be frustrating because sometimes something won’t work and you don’t know why, but that’s when you learn the most. You analyze the problem and troubleshoot and learn from your mistakes. For me, it’s been a great experience,” Timoney said.
Timoney hopes to attend medical school and is taking advantage of the School of Arts & Sciences’ Pre-Health Program. She meets regularly with pre-health advisor John Vaughan and is a member of the UR American Medical Students Association.
Even her extracurricular activities have leant themselves to her professional passion—her sorority, Delta Delta Delta, sponsors philanthropic projects that support St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. She’s interested in studying abroad in Central America and would love to complete a medical service trip one summer.
Timoney took advantage of the School of Arts & Sciences’ pre-freshman program, supported by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Admitted students who display strength in the sciences are invited to move to campus early and participate in a 5-week research program in the laboratory of a professor in their field of interest.
She spent the summer and the two subsequent semesters studying how different fatty acids modulate fast-inactivating Kv4 potassium channels by inhibiting peak current and speeding up inactivation. This summer, she will remain on campus once again, introducing different mutations in the Kv4 channel to see if they influence Kv4 channel function. She will present her work at the School of Arts and Sciences’ annual Student Symposium this April.
“As an APS fellow, I receive a summer stipend and a travel stipend. It’s possible that I’ll travel to China next year to present my work at the APS convention. If I did that, it’d be taking research to a whole new level for me. Presenting to a group of people who know the field like the back of their hand would be intimidating but ultimately, such a worthwhile experience,” said Timoney.