Lab Ready: Preparing Tomorrow’s Scientists

Room 132 of Polk Hall is awash in lab coats and purple latex gloves as a horde of students buzz around the laboratory on a recent Thursday morning. Trino Ascencio-Ibáñez, director of undergraduate programs and undergraduate research for NC State University’s Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry, roams around the counters stacked with beakers, pipettes and tubes, coaching the budding scientists on how to set up for their various experiments.

These students aren’t here because they’re taking a required class. They’re here because they want to develop real-world skills. Ascencio-Ibáñez started the Biochemistry Undergraduate Research and Training Program more than a decade ago with the goal of giving more undergraduate students hands-on experience in the laboratory. 

And the program has thrived. 

“Everything that they perform here has a hypothesis, has a reason, is not just a training exercise,” says Ascencio-Ibáñez, affectionately called “Dr. Trino” by his students. “It’s something that we are interested in developing, either as part of our research grants or as preliminary data to apply for more grants.”

With access to equipment ranging from microscopes to high-performance liquid chromatography and flow cytometry equipment, undergraduate students walk away with impactful experiences they can leverage after graduation. Studies show major benefits for students who do undergraduate research: better grades, higher graduation rates and better preparation for careers or graduate school. 

There’s only one real requirement for students to get started, says Ascencio-Ibáñez: “They don’t need previous research experience to join my lab, but I expect them to be here because they want to be.”

Accelerating Science

Nicolas Mastrovito is among the many students whose professional paths have been shaped by Ascencio-Ibáñez’s mentorship. As an undergraduate biochemistry major, Mastrovito studied the effects of geminivirus, a common plant disease, on plant gene expression. He gained experience in tasks ranging from designing and testing polymerase chain reaction primers to using RNA sequencing to measure gene expression during infection.

“My undergraduate research projects with Dr. Trino gave me a glimpse into what it would be like to be involved in projects with different levels of independence and collaboration,” Mastrovito says. “When I began my research with him, I did not know if I would enjoy research with plants, but over the past four years, I have come to love plant and virus research.”

With encouragement from ​​Ascencio-Ibáñez, Mastrovito, who completed his bachelor’s degree in May of 2024, enrolled in the department’s accelerated bachelor’s/master’s degree program in biochemistry and is on track to earn his graduate degree in May. As a graduate student, he’s continued to grow his skills in the lab, learning techniques such as molecular cloning, immunohistochemistry and fluorescence microscopy. He’s also contributed to scientific papers and presented his research at university- and national-level conferences. 

After he finishes his master’s degree, Mastrovito plans to pursue a career in professional research in fields such as virology, plant biology, cancer biology or pharmaceuticals.

“Working with Dr. Trino has prepared me for the workforce by providing me with opportunities to learn a variety of technical lab and analytical skills that are valuable to many university and industry research settings,” he says.

Building Chemistry

Diving into real-world science experiments especially appealed to Julia Yurkiv, Ariadne Meares and Nivedha Nataraj. Along with Mohit Lagisetty, they are conducting a research project this semester studying the functions of viral protein replication in geminiviruses. The group has received two grants through NC State’s Office of Undergraduate Research this academic year to support their work.

The students, all of whom are undergraduates majoring in biochemistry, have spent countless hours investigating a particular protein that is key to the replication of geminiviruses within plants. 

“We’re trying to essentially stop [the protein’s] function so that the virus can’t replicate, even if it does manage to infect a plant,” Nataraj says. 

The skills they’re learning in Ascencio-Ibáñez’s lab are invaluable.

“We do a lot of protein purification, which is a big piece of biomanufacturing, which is what I’m interested in going into,” Meares says. “That’s very helpful for me in terms of gaining applicable experience and skills.”

“The work we’re doing translates really well into drug development, drug design, drug metabolism types of areas, which is kind of what I want to focus on,” adds Nataraj, who is interested in getting a Ph.D. in toxicology or pharmacology. 

For Yurkiv, getting time in the lab has expanded her professional interests.

“Originally, I wanted to do something in healthcare, and then once I stepped into research, that actually changed my path. Now, I really want to go to grad school to focus on working with proteins,” she says. “I enjoy problem-solving and using interdisciplinary areas to do research.”

Forward Momentum

More than 10 years after launching the Biochemistry Undergraduate Research and Training Program, Ascencio-Ibáñez says it’s still thrilling to watch students get excited and gain confidence in his lab.

“They’re always inquisitive, curious and interested,” he says. “That is one of the main reasons why I do this.”

The other is to help make science more tangible.

“[With] biochemistry being an experimental science, it is many times very difficult to understand the concepts without looking at things up close,” Ascencio-Ibáñez says. “So the ability to perform experiments with the materials they are seeing in class and making those connections and understanding how the experiments are performed — it brings a solidity to the knowledge.”

It also prepares students to transition into careers within the research industry.

“When they graduate, they have the ability to perform experiments,” he says. “I am adamant about training them for the workforce or furthering their education so that they are ready to go and earn a living when they finish our major.”

This post was originally published in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.