News and Progress
MU undergraduates contribute to discoveries in the life sciences
MU's new Life Sciences Center will bring together researchers from across campus
Dec. 13, 2004
Junior Aminata Coulibaly, left, and biochemist Agnes Simonyi are part of a team of researchers who are discovering how a compound found in grapes can minimize stroke damage. Photo by Seth Wenig
While other college students spend their time hanging out with friends at the student union and cramming for finals until the wee hours of the morning, Aminata Coulibaly has been contributing to a scientific breakthrough that could lead to improved treatment for strokes.
Coulibaly moved to St. Louis with her parents from the Ivory Coast in 2001. At Mizzou, the biology major found a research mentor through the Express Program, which gives minority freshmen, sophomores and transfer students a chance to participate in scientific research projects. Coulibaly linked up with Agnes Simonyi, a biochemist who works on the team of professors Grace and Albert Sun, who discovered that resveratol, a compound found in grape skin, grape juice and red wine, can minimize the damage caused by strokes.
Working under the guidance of her mentor, Coulibaly added to the Suns’ discovery; she isolated the chemical mechanism that proved resveratol's effectiveness. Simonyi says Coulibaly is not just washing test tubes or cleaning cages like students working in labs at some universities. “At MU, it's different because undergraduates are involved in research,” Simonyi says.
Undergraduates will have even more opportunities to contribute once MU's new Life Sciences Center opens this fall. The $60 million building — built primarily with state and federal funds — is at the core of MU's efforts to create an internationally regarded research and education center for the life sciences and will be the new home for the Office of Undergraduate Research.
The 234,000-square-foot building will bring together faculty from the colleges and schools of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Arts and Science, Health Sciences including Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions, Human Environmental Sciences, Engineering, and Veterinary Medicine. The state-of-the-art facility also will help recruit new faculty to MU.
Inside the Life Sciences Center
- up to 40 faculty members working in interdisciplinary research clusters
- 234,000 gross square feet, including 44,000 square feet of lab space
- a central sky-lit atrium connecting labs, classrooms and work spaces
- plant, animal and insect research facilities
“This is a real shot in the arm for the campus,” says Michael Chippendale, senior associate director of the center. The center also will benefit the state by attracting new companies and generating federal research funds to boost Missouri 's economy. The center was dedicated Sept. 17 and will foster collaborative research across disciplines. In the new building, a biochemist might work side by side with a psychologist to learn more about Alzheimer's disease, and an engineer might work with a medical researcher to come up with better diagnostic tools. “This is a whole new model for life sciences research at the University,” says Michael Roberts, director of the center. Roberts, professor of biochemistry and animal sciences, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Along with research labs, the six-floor building will include an auditorium and space for undergraduate classes. The building's first floor will hold teaching and computer labs as well as a reading room. The other floors will contain offices and labs where students such as Coulibaly will partner with active scientists to perform basic research, as Coulibaly has done with her mentor, Simonyi. “In state-of-the-art labs, students have excellent facilities for their studies and are better prepared to enter the work force,” Chippendale says.
Jane Phillips, director of development for the center, says a planned $10 million unrestricted endowment will provide discretionary funds to maintain and upgrade laboratory equipment; provide fellowships, professorships and endowed chairs to attract and support graduate students and faculty researchers; bring guest lecturers to campus; enable the pursuit of critical discoveries not covered by grant income; and facilitate development of promising technologies and products.
About $1.3 million of the endowment has been raised to date. Naming opportunities for facility and faculty support are available ranging from $10,000 for a postdoctoral office to $1.1 million for an endowed chair.