Cloning Enzymes

Activism might help raise AIDS awareness, but Jennifer A. Lo ’10 is fighting the virus itself.

Lo’s goal for the past year has been to clone the main enzyme involved in reverse transcription, the process by which viruses, including HIV, make DNA and begin taking over human cells.

She is part of a larger team taking a unique approach to studying reverse transcription in hopes that approaching it from the perspective of structural biology—the study of the shape of biological molecules—will provide insights into treating lethal diseases, including AIDS and leukemia.

“She’s trying to make [the enzyme] in high enough copies so we can use it for our structural studies,” said Victoria M. D’Souza, the professor of the lab in which Lo works.

After Lo completes this project, the Winthrop resident and molecular and cellular biology concentrator will start on what will eventually become her senior thesis and work independently.

“She’s pretty much a do-it-yourself person,” D’Souza said.

Lo said that current drugs, which attack HIV at specific points in its life cycle, can be limited in their effectiveness because HIV mutates so quickly.

“Victoria’s approach is to look at how all of the proteins work in reverse transcription,” she said.

She added that an improved understanding of the reverse transcription process could lead to better treatments, such as new drugs and gene therapies.

Lo started working in D’Souza’s lab last February and spent the summer continuing her research through the support of the Program for Research in Science and Engineering (PRISE) and a Herschel Smith fellowship.

“That [summer] was really fun,” Lo said, “because I had no homework or tests to worry about and got to work full time in the lab and see what that was like.”

Lo praised the friendly nature of the lab where she said undergrads are encouraged to pursue independent projects.

Lo added that she and her labmates keep the radio on and eat each other’s food.

“I think we’re having a sleepover as a lab,” she said.

—Staff writer Alissa M. D’Gama can be reached at adgama@fas.harvard.edu.

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