Young Scholars Make the Grade: From Studying to Published

Eight students in biomolecular science expected to gain published citations in the next year

Lipscomb’s Master of Science in biomolecular science (BMS) is closing out its first decade of existence, having already achieved strong outcomes with an excellent acceptance rate to doctorate and medical programs and more than 20 students published in academic journals, with eight more to be named as authors of paper submissions within a year’s time.

“Conducting research independently is becoming more and more important to our students as professional school admission requires more than a competitive grade point average and exam score,” said Dr. Bonny Millimaki, director of the BMS program and associate professor of biology.

Given that trend, Lipscomb’s master’s program is designed to involve students in much more than a supportive or housekeeping role.

“When we say they get research experience, we mean they are the ones in the lab running the experiments,” said Dr. Amanda Williams (bs ’03), assistant professor. “Most of our graduates are likely at the level of an end-of-the-first-year-Ph.D. student in other graduate programs.”

Five of Williams’ BMS students and two of her biology undergraduate students have earned authorship on a paper she expects to submit for publication by this summer: Erin Lisk (bs/bms ’22), Liz Fisher (bs ’21), Erick Gonzalez (bs ’17, bms ’18), Nicholas Ryan (bs/bms ’22), MiKayla Scillion (bs/bms ’20, mpas ’22), Reagan Bain (bs/bms ’21) and Gina Gad (bs’21).

Each of these students independently and substantially contributed to the paper by either developing the study design, running the experiments, completing the data analysis or writing part of the manuscript. Two of these students previously presented findings at the Keystone Symposia in Utah in 2022.

“It says a lot about the level of student that we have at Lipscomb,” said Williams, “the fact that they can gain authorship on a paper, when most students do not have the foundational skills to earn first authorship until the second or third year of a Ph.D. program.”

Williams’ research looks at the role of the innate immune peptide called HD5 and its presence in the colon in Crohn’s colitis patients. Their work could someday lead to improved diagnosis of Crohn’s vs. ulcerative colitis patients and a better understanding of whether HD5 in the colon is helping or harming the patient.

Williams currently has six papers in the works, with 13 undergraduate and graduate BMS students working on them.

Likewise, Mirna Mina Abouda (bs ’19, bms ’22) earned first authorship status for a paper that former Lipscomb Associate Professor Dr. Beth Conway plans to submit for publication within a year.

Conway has spent 20 years researching proteins that encourage blood vessel growth to tumors, a topic particularly relevant to triple negative breast cancer. She has had 20 BMS students published in journals such as Oncogenesis, Angiogenesis and Journal of Cancer

Mina Abouda spent more than two years working with Conway for her thesis project on how neprilysin, a cell-surface enzyme, regulates the signaling pathway in triple negative breast cancer. Mina Abouda presented her findings at the St. Jude National Symposium on Undergraduate Research and her abstract was published in Genetics in Medicine, both in 2022.

“Mirna’s work on this project not only significantly clarified the contribution of neprilysin to activation of an important signaling pathway in the most aggressive form of breast cancer, but she also learned to design, perform, analyze and communicate her scientific findings,” said Conway.

Others would agree. Mina Abouda plans to continue studying cancer biology as she has been accepted to the Ph.D. program at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“We didn’t just gain the ability to work hands-on, we gained the ability to work brains-on,” she said. “I had the opportunity to move the project forward. She let me bring my own ideas to the table. She would say, ‘Let’s think together about how to get this from point A to point B.’ I don’t think I would have had that opportunity elsewhere.”

Since its launch in fall 2022, 77% of the BMS program’s pre-med graduates have been accepted to medical school and 90% of those applying to Ph.D. programs have been accepted. Ninety-eight percent of graduates are working in science in fields such as medicine, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, clinical research, primary research, clinical management, biotechnology and nursing, among others.

Learn more about the biomolecular sciences program at lipscomb.edu/BMS.