Today our spotlight shines on senior Meg Taylor and her work with DNA replication. Check out our full interview with her here!
What inspired you to pursue a degree in STEM?
It’s a funny story actually! At the time in high school when you decide on a major for college, my family was in between jobs and hadn’t as of yet had a successful college graduate at the University level. I had liked science in high school, but given my family’s educational background and my passion for music, some of my teachers encouraged me to go for a music education degree because it would be safer than risking my financial aid if I failed science classes in college. I ended up getting vocal nodules and not being able to complete my music degree and switched to STEM on a whim. It was then when I met people such as the late Dr. Dan Samples, Dr. Thomas McGrath, Dr. Marty Harvill, Dr. Joshua Patrick, and Dr. Rizalia Klausmeyer who helped me discover my passions in the biological sciences, chemistry, and statistics. Dr. Myeongwoo Lee and Dr. Michael Trakselis (among other short, internship mentors) were especially important in directing me to pursue a research career after Baylor from my work in their laboratories and the experience of the accessibility and joy of science in the palm of my hand by way of research.
How would you describe your work to the public?
From working with cancer patients in the hospital to working in a more traditional lab setting, I have seen lots of research surrounding proteins and DNA. Of recent, I have worked on projects involved in DNA replication (doubling our DNA for new, healthy cells) and repair systems (fixing the DNA when it gets damaged). Specifically, this work involves polymerases (a protein that duplicates our DNA) and inducing changes to their natural state by mutating (or changing) them. This is done at the DNA level but is observed on a protein level in the research! The mutation is done through a technique called “site-directed mutagenesis”. It is the goal to contrast the mutated polymerases to the native (natural) polymerases to discover more about how they may interact with damaged DNA.
What do you enjoy doing the most?
In lab, I love getting to learn more about the Central Dogma of Biology (DNA →protein) by doing both DNA and protein protocols (or prepping of samples). Outside of lab, I enjoy singing, cooking, graphic design, and playing with my pets, Oakley and Halloween.
Share an accomplishment that younger you would have thought unachievable.
I actually had to drop AP Chemistry the first time around in high school because it was distracting me from AP Physics, which was required for graduation in Texas. I also had to get a job that year to cover some of my needs. While my dad got the opportunity to receive a Bachelor’s while I was in high school (GO Military GI-BILL benefits!!), no one else in my family had previously ever gone to a four year university or successfully graduated from college. Never in a million years did my family (nor myself) expect me to come from some of those situations to attending a four-year university, trade in music for STEM, and graduate with three, STEM-related majors! I will also be a first-generation PhD student which is also very exciting!
If you could give advice to the younger generation, what would it be?
The word I always like to offer as advice is “perseverance”: my father couldn’t afford a college degree until he was well into his 40’s, but he persevered through and graduated just before I left high school; I persevered through retaking an AP class and finding the means to pay for college while my family persevered through economic hardship. I also do not have a perfect 4.0 GPA, but that has not deterred me from persevering towards my goals. ANYTHING is possible through hard work! The other thing I like to stress is finding a balance of dedication and passion in whatever you aim to pursue. It is good to have interests and passions in lots of areas, but it takes dedication in the few to achieve true success. I have had my share of burnout in undergraduate too and have learned it is okay not to have the answers to everything, but take a step back and focus in on solving the problem at hand. Finally, have great mentors. If not for each professor and PI I have worked with to this point, I may have never found my love for biochemistry! So, thank you to each of you!
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