Marc Ridilla

Marc Ridilla

Marc has always enjoyed science. And for most of his life prior to college, Marc, like Jennine, wanted to be a doctor. “I guess I felt that loving biology as much as I did meant that I should become a doctor. But at some point the idea of being a doctor lost its appeal. I began to consider doctors to be more like mechanics, fixing the same problem over and over, so I became really interested in genetics and drug design, which at the time I believed were the best ways to benefit mankind.” Since Marc zeroed in on that idea, he has been almost single-minded in his studies, knowing exactly why he came to Rice and pursuing it with relentless enthusiasm.

“At Rice I knew there were good opportunities for undergrads to work in labs, and I wanted to start as soon as I could. Being a natural science division major, I had Dr. Yousif Shamoo as my advisor, and I found the research in his lab interesting, so I asked to join his lab the summer after freshman year. Dr. Shamoo’s lab is doing research on protein RNA interactions and protein DNA interactions during S phase of mitosis, which is when DNA is replicated. He’s hoping that if we understand the mechanism and we can fix problems in genes and in proteins and understand exactly what could go wrong, then it could be used in cancer research.”

Marc’s current research in Dr. Shamoo’s lab differs from the majority of work being done there in that it focuses on directed molecular evolution. But his research gave him and graduate student Rafael Counago the opportunity to present a poster on the research at the SouthWest Macromolecular Symposium, which was held in The Woodlands. “The guests at the symposium have the option of presenting a poster of their work,” Marc explains. “And during the sessions, the presenters put their posters up on the wall, and other people are able to walk around and ask questions. It’s just like the Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium.”

Marc knows he’ll definitely go on to graduate school. Although he hasn’t decided which school he might attend, he’s considering Berkeley because he knows “there is really good research going on there.” When asked if his work at Rice has helped shaped his focus, Marc replies, “Well, being in Shamoo’s lab for such a long time now, I’m only thinking about crystallography. But I’ll probably get the opportunity to see some other things and meet other people before I have to make a decision.” He adds, “The time I’ve spent with the grad students in the lab has been the most enriching time of my life. And I know now that I could spend the rest of my life in a research lab. I don’t know of anything else that I could enjoy as much.”