The first graduates of the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Biomedical Research Academy are shown with (front row, left to right) program Co-Directors Irene Chapa, Ph.D., and Sophie Piña, Ph.D., and Brian Herman, Ph.D., Chancellor Health Fellow, professor of cellular and structural biology and special assistant to the president, who is principal investigator for the academy.
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SAN ANTONIO (Sept. 20, 2011) — The flame of scientific discovery is burning brightly in the hearts of 22 young scientists known as the Voelcker Scholars. With their third summer at the Health Science Center under their belts, these fired-up teenagers graduated Sept. 20 in a ceremony at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute.

These are the first graduates of the Voelcker Biomedical Research Academy, a program that immerses teenagers in the warp and woof of science — from understanding the scientific method, to performing laboratory techniques, to learning critical-thinking skills. This rigorous program is funded by a gift from the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund, which honors the memory of the Voelckers, who were successful dairy farmers for many years in San Antonio and who believed in transforming lives through education.

Forrester M. Smith III, trustee of the Voelcker Fund, thanked the Health Science Center for the activity it took to make the academy a reality, including mentoring, time, lab resources and leadership. He also noted the personal sacrifice of the Voelcker Scholars and their families. “It is a lot of work for 16-year-olds and a lot of driving for parents,” Smith said.

Related link: Graduating Voelcker Scholars hear renowned scientist, inventor

Scholar Nikki Santiago told her classmates: “The human mind has unlimited potential for animation. One idea can change the course of life. Hold tight to the knowledge gained in this program.”

Not a typical summer at the pool
Scholar Elizabeth Arriaga of Burbank High School worked in the laboratory of Dr. Benjamin Eaton this summer, verifying a potential drug target for ALS, a neurodegenerative disease. Darren Sanchez of Clark High School worked in Dr. Renee Yew’s lab on a cancer-related project, studying a protein that puts the brakes on cell division in frogs. Alexandra “Allie” Sharp of Boerne Champion High School studied chemical changes in the brain that occur with chronic stress and can be correlated to illnesses such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She worked in Dr. David Morilak’s lab.

In summer 2009 the first class of Voelcker Scholars came to the Health Science Center for eight weeks of scientific overview. In summer 2010 they were assigned to laboratories of faculty mentors and began learning techniques. This summer each contributed to a specific project as part of a laboratory team. Younger Voelcker Scholars, enrolled in 2010 and 2011, are following in their footsteps.

Sharp said she likes the “nuts and bolts, figuring out the logic of why things work,” so research was a revelation for her. She started out only considering a career as a medical doctor but now realizes that research provides the basis for the treatments that physicians use.

“She collaborated with Julianne Jett, a graduate student in our laboratory,” Dr. Morilak, professor of pharmacology, said. “Allie became part of our team and contributed in a substantial way. She learned from people in the lab in a careful, mentoring, nurturing kind of process.”

Joshua Shandera, (right) a student from Central Catholic High School, is congratulated on completing the Voelcker Academy by (left to right) Banks M. Smith and Forrester M. Smith III, trustees of the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund, and special guest speaker Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., president and co-founder of the Institute for Systems Biology.

Treating ALS in fruit flies
In Dr. Eaton’s lab, Arriaga helped test an interesting new class of drugs that for genetic reasons would be expected to be beneficial for treatment of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in fruit flies. “Elizabeth had to master genetics, fine dissection of fruit fly larvae, and immunofluorescent microscopy,” Dr. Eaton, assistant professor of physiology, said. “She mastered these and is proficient in them.”

Sanchez studied negative regulators of cell division — CDK inhibitors — that either are not expressed in cancer cells or are severely reduced. This lack of brakes leads to rampant cell growth. “Darren is very bright. He was also extremely dedicated and committed,” Dr. Yew, associate professor of molecular medicine, said. “He was a contributor creatively to the project, which is unusual at that level.”

Finding the best across districts, schools
The Voelcker Academy extends across school districts and public and private schools in San Antonio, said Irene Chapa, Ph.D., director of recruitment and science outreach for the Health Science Center. “What the Voelcker Academy is allowing us to do is reach the entire community and find the best students in any and all schools,” she said. Dr. Chapa, a pharmacologist by training, has worked on this and many other student pipeline programs for a decade. She is co-director of the Voelcker Academy with Sophie Piña, Ph.D., assistant dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Health Science Center.

David Jones, Ph.D., senior associate dean of admissions in the School of Medicine, and Brian Herman, Ph.D., former vice president for research, were program speakers and played significant roles in overseeing the development of the Voelcker Academy.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $228 million in fiscal year 2010. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.