Kenji Kaproth, SEAS ’25, Kensington, MD
In the summer of 2024, supported by a Penn Career Services Summer Funding Grant, I conducted on-campus research on ALS.
Before coming to Penn, I already knew that I wanted to contribute to research on neurodegenerative diseases. This desire came from my experience working as an EMT during my gap year. I transported many patients suffering from dementia, and this exposed me to the devastating effects of neurodegenerative diseases. It was always so heartbreaking to watch patients interact with family members they failed to recognize.
At Penn, I am grateful for the opportunity to work on ALS-related research through the Shorter Lab. I contribute to a project led by my mentor, Dr. Miriam Linsenmeier, and principal investigator Dr. James Shorter. Specifically, in patients suffering from ALS, aggregates of a protein named TDP-43 can form within the cytoplasm of cells. I help investigate whether we can break up those protein aggregates and develop a new therapeutic by exploring the potential of another protein named IPO13. My day-to-day work in this lab has involved taking pictures using a microscope as well as conducting assays to better understand the binding strength between each type of protein.
In conducting this research, I have been amazed by the combination of skills and disciplines that go into making new discoveries. As a chemical and biomolecular engineering major in a biochemistry lab, I didn’t expect that so many of the concepts that I learned in class would be immediately applicable. While the knowledge I learned in my biochemistry class was by far the most useful, I’ve drawn on concepts from cell biology, thermodynamics, in addition to a computer science class which has helped me to better understand and quantify the material.
I hope that the research that I have helped conduct will prove to be useful in contributing to the next generation of treatments for ALS, and I am grateful for the support from Penn Career Services.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2024 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
