Picture taken after a successful round of protein precipitation

Author: Richard Blevins | Major: Chemistry – Biochemistry | Semester: spring 2025

This past year, I have had a great opportunity to research in Dr. Susanne Striegler’s lab in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. My project this semester focused on the extraction of α-galactosidase from Carica L. Papaya, known simply as papaya. This enzyme is responsible for the hydrolysis of galactosyl moieties in many living organisms and is critical for the processing of complex polysaccharides and oligosaccharides into monosaccharides. Since this enzyme is typically costly to acquire and irregularly purchasable, my project sought to solve this problem. My project aims to provide a cheap and effective method of isolating and purifying this valuable enzyme for future study.

As a student wishing to pursue a career in medicine, it was important to me that my project be medically relevant. This enzyme is implicated in the pathology of Fabry’s disease and diabetes. Therefore, learning how to supply this enzyme could be very valuable for future research.

With the help of Dr. Striegler, I chose this project because of its relation to the clinical science pervasive in modern medicine. A sound understanding of enzyme function and activity is key to understanding biochemistry, the science of life. Medical interventions often seek to modulate the activity of enzymes, replace enzymes, or remove toxic intermediates. Because of the relevance this project has to human disease and medicine, this project helped deepen my understanding of biomedical science and its applications.

This semester was my first excursion into dedicated research. I learned that research is an incredibly iterative process where you must perform trial and error to succeed. Additionally, sometimes even the most disappointing of results, including failures, are important to note and learn from. I believe that my trial and error in the lab will help to yield fruitful results in the future.

Something I didn’t expect to learn was that sometimes research can be time-consuming. On more than one occasion I planned out my whole day in the lab to accomplish only a fraction of what I set out to do. Time management is a skill that many undergraduate students are still trying to improve. I can say for certain that doing research has given me an opportunity to learn better time management. This was compounded by the great autonomy granted to undergraduate researchers in the Striegler lab. As undergraduates we have a lot of choice in how we design our experiments. While Dr. Striegler is always present to guide us, she additionally grants us the freedom to make our own mistakes and learn. As a result, this has made me better at planning experiments and managing my time.

At this point, I have successfully isolated some protein from papaya and will explore methods of purification and verification of the targeted enzyme next semester to determine its activity and abundance. Next spring, I look forward to completing and defending my honors thesis. This experience has been very enjoyable, and I am especially grateful to individuals like Dr. Striegler and the graduate students in the lab for their guidance and support. I would encourage any students interested in undergraduate research to give it a try—there is much to learn, and it can be very rewarding!