As summer began, Chance Krueger felt confident in his career path as a physician.
Two months later, the Atoka High School graduate is considering a future with a second doctoral degree – this one in medical research.
Krueger was among 16 Fleming Scholars who spent their summer interning of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
He conducted experiments in the lab of OMRF scientist Rafal Donczew, who studies gene transcription, a continual process in our cells that involves copying DNA into RNA. Gene transcription helps the body perform essential functions, but errors can result in cancer or neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Krueger’s experiments involved a set of proteins that play a vital role in gene expression and transcription. Donczew’s ultimate goal is to create inhibitors that either kill or slow the growth of cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
What surprised Krueger was the precision required to obtain valid results.
“The projects I’ve worked on are incredibly sensitive to change, so any mistake could possibly ruin weeks of work,” he said. “In some cases, a sample smaller than a drop of water must be measured to perfection.”
The incoming freshman at East Central University hopes to attend medical school upon graduation. He said his time at OMRF reinforced that desire while awakening him to the possibility of also pursuing a Ph.D.
“This experience has been a combination of nervousness, excitement and stress,” he said. “In spite of that, I could not be happier and more excited to have spent my summer at OMRF.”
“Chance is an exceptional young scientist, and I’m confident he has a bright career ahead of him,” Donczew said. “His research in our lab brought important findings and will guide our future studies into the mechanisms of gene transcription.”
OMRF’s Fleming Scholar program, founded in 1956, has given more than 600 high school and college students from Oklahoma experience conducting biomedical research. The eight-week program is named for Sir Alexander Fleming, the famed British scientist who discovered penicillin and in 1949 came to Oklahoma City to formally dedicate OMRF’s first building.
To learn more about the program, visit omrf.org/fleming.
