ASP Award Supports Undergrad’s Research

ASP Award Supports Undergrad’s Research

RICE NEWS
September 30, 1999

Michelle Meyer, a junior with a biochemistry and chemistry double major, got an extra boost and honor when, in early June, word came that she would receive a grant to further her undergraduate research.

An award from the American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) funded her summer research in biochemistry. Meyer was one of only three students from across the country to receive an ASP Undergraduate Summer Research Grant.

She also received support through the chemistry department’s Richter Fellowship, and she is currently writing up her results for publication.

Pharmacognosy is the branch of pharmacology that deals with the study of natural drugs and their botanical sources and characteristics.

Meyer’s adviser, Seiichi Matsuda, assistant professor of chemistry and of biochemistry and cell biology, encouraged her to apply for the ASP grant.

Meyer uses recombinant DNA technology to study a group of enzymes that are essential to the production of sterols, such as cholesterol. She is working to determine exactly how some of the enzymes work, in particular, lanosterol synthase, which occurs in animals and fungi, and cycloartenol synthase, which is made in plants and protozoa.

In the future, Meyer says, researchers may be able to take advantage of the differences between the enzymes to develop an anti-protozoal drug that could be used to treat a variety of diseases caused by protozoa, such as African sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and Chaga’s disease.