After receiving his Associate of Science this spring, Trevor Beardsley jumped right into a prestigious internship doing research at Northeastern University.
Beardsley was accepted into the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program. He credits GRCC chemistry professors Tom Neils and Jennifer Batten for preparing him for the opportunity.
“I didn’t know much about chemistry going into GRCC, and they really made all this possible for me, giving me the confidence to push my knowledge to the limit and put my skills to work,” he said.
Beardsley spent 10 weeks working on drug discovery and repurposing for Human African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness.
“While I was in the lab, I spent my time synthesizing, analyzing and purifying products of my reactions, and carried the compounds into further steps of the reaction schemes,” he said.
“Ultimately, I was able to produce a few final compounds to gain data for the lab to test a hypothesis on the reasoning for the toxicity in the compound cluster that they have been working on. I also was able to develop a successful reaction scheme for compounds that will continue to be made by other members of the lab in future work, which was also very exciting.”
He and the other eight students in the program also toured the Merck Research Laboratory, the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, Draper Laboratory and Beyond Benign Inc.Weekends were spent trying out new restaurants and sightseeing at the Museum of Science, Quincy Market, and Revere Beach and kayaking on the Charles River.
Beardsley, who was named to Delta Pi Alpha while at GRCC, starts at Grand Valley State University this fall, where he will pursue a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. He plans to eventually go to medical school.
“Before leaving for Boston, I knew this was going to be a good summer,” he said. “However, it far surpassed my expectations. I learned and accomplished so much, all while seeing some amazing things, making great connections and friends, and having a great time while doing it.”