Abetzi Vazquez Ochoa, COL ’25, Houston, TX
This summer was filled with cells, drugs, and questions surrounding both the PIDDosome complex’s ability to activate with the degradation of its N-Terminal, and my ability to even answer that question.
I was fortunate to have spent my time this summer alongside the wonderful members of the Taabazuing Lab at the Perelman School of Medicine, whose willingness to persevere even when all of our cells are dying, inspired me in ways I never expected. Although it is in the name of the game, the lab’s focus is in studying the mechanisms of cell death and how we can leverage inflammasomes and cytokines in the fight against our immune system to treat sepsis and some cancers.
My project focused on the PIDDosome; a multi-protein complex with two different autoproteolytic sites that allow it to participate in both cell death-promoting and cell-survival pathways –depending on the amount of DNA damage present. My experiments were set to question its initiationary mechanisms: what triggers it? How much damage is too much death? And most ambitiously, how can we leverage this in therapeutics? Essentially, this is a very big protein with very little media coverage, and it was my responsibility to uncover as many of its secrets as I could in the span of a couple of months. This was, understandably, a difficult task, so much so, that it had me rethink my career choices. Because this is such a large protein that produces a lot of cell death, it was hard to keep track of it biochemically without missing some small details along the way. I am nonetheless, persevering, both metaphorically and literally.
I’ve learned a lot this summer. About this protein and myself. This summer really allowed me to come to grips with the idea of what academia actually looks like. It’s a field I often found myself romanticizing as a first-generation lover of science, and a field that has a lot to give to not only the world but me as well.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2023 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they spent their summer. You can read the entire series here
