NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Students Gilmer Youn
and Elena Hsieh, working in a lab in the Gonda
Building, presented their research in Washington, D.C.
By Shane M. Nelson
Daily Bruin Contributor
In a university where graduate school research is highly valued,
it is easy for undergraduate students to be overlooked. But two
students are challenging that premise at UCLA
Gilmer Youn, a fourth-year biochemistry student and Elena W. Y.
Hsieh, a fifth-year microbiology, immunology, and molecular
genetics student, flew to Washington D.C. last week with Posters on
the Hill, a program designed to increase scientific awareness in
politicians.
They are two of only 68 students selected nationally to
participate in the program organized by the Council on
Undergraduate Research, said National Executive Officer K. Elaine
Hoagland in an e-mail.
“Research and classroom experience reinforce each
other,” said Youn. “Research poses a challenge beyond
memorizing facts and learning the experiments of past
scientists.”
Youn, who calls himself a “nanomachine designer,”
uses advanced organic chemistry techniques to study molecular
building blocks, synthesizing biochemical machines useful in body
systems.
“Youn is every bit as talented as most graduate students,
that I can easily rank him already as more creative and productive
than some postdoctoral fellows,” said J. Fraser Stoddart,
Saul Winstein, chair of organic chemistry and Youn’s
mentor.
Reflecting on his undergraduate education and looking toward a
future in medicine, Youn said he chose to study science because it
is both detail oriented and integrative.
“It all comes together in the human body so well. Nature
is beautiful that way,” he said.
After graduating UCLA but before beginning medical school, Youn
plans to live abroad in Paraguay, teaching English and computer
skills in small rural villages because it is something he always
wanted to do.
“It kind of makes you realize what we have and not to take
it for granted,” he said.
While Youn was in the Molecular Science Building constructing
nanomachines, Hsieh was in the Gonda building looking for a missing
link.
Hsieh’s presentation focused on research she has been
doing for the last three years on dysfunctional red blood cells in
a rare form of cancer, Erythro Leukemia. If a common feature is
found among diseased tissues, it could provide clues to possible
treatments, she added.
Hsieh grew up in Spain, moving to the United States to go to
UCLA her freshman year. It was a difficult adjustment, she said,
with all the extra language and general education classes she had
to repeat because she didn’t get credit for the classes she
took in Spain.
Hsieh keeps her GPA above 3.9, spends up to 20 hours per week in
the lab, and tutors children from underprivileged families, said
her mentor, Lisa Schimmenti of the department of human genetics and
pediatrics.
Despite admitting to being “soooo sleep deprived,”
she finds time to volunteer in the community at the Beverly Hills
branch of the Los Angeles Free Clinic and at the UCLA Medical
Center. She gets hands-on experience, often standing right
alongside doctors during patient examinations.
Hsieh plans to apply to M.D./Ph.D. programs after graduation,
which include research and clinical preparation to become a medical
doctor. She can’t imagine life without both: “You learn
science by doing science,” she said.