Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Student Profile: Lathan Lucas

Master
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Lathan Lucas
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I am a second-year graduate student in the Chemical, Physical & Structural Biology Program.

I am interested in biomedical research because of its direct applications to medicine and the capacity to address complex biological questions in detail. My work focuses on the cytoskeleton organization of muscle cells and how disrupted cytoskeleton can lead to muscle weakness. It is exciting to investigate such clinically significant questions from a basic science approach. While I learn more about muscle physiology and ways to prevent muscle weakness, I also am answering essential questions about the cytoskeleton and other uncharacterized proteins in muscle physiology.

I have loved getting to know my lab family and other graduate students as I pursue my research. Outside of the lab I connect with other members of my graduate program through things like rock climbing and organized hangouts. Overall, I have found my experience in research to be exciting and am now certain to pursue it as a career. It is such a rewarding feeling to be able to persevere through an experiment, generate new knowledge, and be the first to understand.

I intend to pursue academic research and one day have a lab of my own where I investigate biomedical questions with basic science approaches. "