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Schuyler Van Engelenburg, son of Randy and Vicki Van Engelenburg of New Castle and a Rifle High School graduate of the year 2000, has found his niche in the scientific world of cells at the molecular level.
He graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder in May, with a Ph.D. in chemistry and biochemistry. His thesis title was “Defining the spatial and temporal dynamics of salmonella type-III secretion system effectors” Focus: Live Cell Microscopy and Biological Probe Design to Study Bacterial Infection. Whew! Way, way over my head!
Van Engelenburg had his choice of where to do his postgraduate work. He had interviews and was offered postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford, the University of California-San Francisco, and with Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Roger Tsein at the University California San Diego.
He is currently finishing things up at the Colorado University Palmer Laboratory, and will be working on his postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, studying under National Academy of Sciences Member Dr. Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz at the end of the summer.
Van Engelenburg's respect for his mentor is one of the deciding factors that led him to NIH.
He chose the National Institute of Health over the other schools because he would be working with Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz, who has been doing cutting-edge research. He respects her relentless pursuit of uncovering the mechanisms of how cells work at the molecular level.
He said, “One aspect I'm particularly excited about is the development of new microscopic technology in her lab, which allows us to see single protein molecules at the surface of cells, such as viral proteins that have infected the cell. With technology such as this we can map the behavior of proteins on cells which gives us insights into how infectious viral particles are formed.”
“I've kind of always been interested in science, but I really felt like it took getting into a college atmosphere to open my eyes to what was out there for research,” he said.
His future research focus will include HIV and immune cell responses. When Van Engelenburg was at Colorado University graduate school, he often worked 60 hours per week in the lab, and weekends were a must to meet his research goals. He knows he will be working even more at NIH, basically living in the lab.
“With research, it is nice because you can and have to work whatever hours you need to make progress on your project,” said Van Engelenburg.
He also knows all the instruments he needs are available on the graveyard shift. “I suppose what sparked my interest in science, more specifically chemistry, was my late grandfather who was also a chemist,” said Van Engelenburg. “He worked for Stanford Research Institute, which was a think tank that would develop solutions for businesses, such as the hologram of the eagle on Visa cards to prevent counterfeiting. In summers, he would take me to his lab and show me some of the things he was working on at the time. I think this really inspired me to want to work in a lab.”
Van Engelenburg worked under Professor Amy Palmer at the Palmer Laboratory of the CU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for the last several years.
“The overall focus of Schuyler's work in the lab has been to develop strategies for tracking bacterial proteins during the course of infection,” said Palmer. “Numerous pathogenic bacteria have a sophisticated way of injecting bacterial proteins into host organisms as a way of initiating infection. Schuyler has developed two approaches for tagging these bacterial proteins with fluorescent molecules so that we can track them during infections. Better understanding the mechanism of infection by disease-causing bacteria could ultimately contribute to new methods of prevention and treatment of bacterial infection in host organisms, from people to crops and livestock.”
She continued, “It has been a pure joy working with Schuyler. I have not yet encountered something he can not do. He mastered bacterial genetics to recombine tagged genes into salmonella's genome; he did classical biochemistry and cell biology to demonstrate that tagging bacterial proteins did not perturb the overall invasion process; he has a keen eye and excelled at live cell imaging; he even synthesized an inhibitor of the Type III Secretion System (the system used by pathogens to inject proteins into host organisms).”
Van Engelenburg is definitely not all work and no play. He participated on an intramural ice hockey team through the university when he had the time, and went snowboarding at Eldora, near Nederland, on the weekends.
“What was nice about that mountain was that it reminded me of Sunlight and also that I could go up early on a Saturday morning, get 8-10 runs in, and be back by noon to do some experiments in the lab.
Eventually, Van Engelenburg would like to run his own research laboratory at a university.
“I'm excited by the thought of coming up with new technology and applying it to understand how our cells work at the molecular level,” he continued. “All the while I would be able to mentor the next best and brightest scientists who can hopefully go on to make an impact on our understanding of biology in health and disease.”
Nice going, Schuyler. This young man is a great example of the quality of our local youth and their contribution to the betterment of our world. We can all hope for a healthier future.
— Kay Vasilakis' “New Castle News” column appears every other Thursday in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent. To contact her for possible mention of a positive local news item or event, please e-mail kvasilakis2222@gmail.com or call 618-6689.
He graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder in May, with a Ph.D. in chemistry and biochemistry. His thesis title was “Defining the spatial and temporal dynamics of salmonella type-III secretion system effectors” Focus: Live Cell Microscopy and Biological Probe Design to Study Bacterial Infection. Whew! Way, way over my head!
Van Engelenburg had his choice of where to do his postgraduate work. He had interviews and was offered postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford, the University of California-San Francisco, and with Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Roger Tsein at the University California San Diego.
He is currently finishing things up at the Colorado University Palmer Laboratory, and will be working on his postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, studying under National Academy of Sciences Member Dr. Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz at the end of the summer.
Van Engelenburg's respect for his mentor is one of the deciding factors that led him to NIH.
He chose the National Institute of Health over the other schools because he would be working with Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz, who has been doing cutting-edge research. He respects her relentless pursuit of uncovering the mechanisms of how cells work at the molecular level.
He said, “One aspect I'm particularly excited about is the development of new microscopic technology in her lab, which allows us to see single protein molecules at the surface of cells, such as viral proteins that have infected the cell. With technology such as this we can map the behavior of proteins on cells which gives us insights into how infectious viral particles are formed.”
“I've kind of always been interested in science, but I really felt like it took getting into a college atmosphere to open my eyes to what was out there for research,” he said.
His future research focus will include HIV and immune cell responses. When Van Engelenburg was at Colorado University graduate school, he often worked 60 hours per week in the lab, and weekends were a must to meet his research goals. He knows he will be working even more at NIH, basically living in the lab.
“With research, it is nice because you can and have to work whatever hours you need to make progress on your project,” said Van Engelenburg.
He also knows all the instruments he needs are available on the graveyard shift. “I suppose what sparked my interest in science, more specifically chemistry, was my late grandfather who was also a chemist,” said Van Engelenburg. “He worked for Stanford Research Institute, which was a think tank that would develop solutions for businesses, such as the hologram of the eagle on Visa cards to prevent counterfeiting. In summers, he would take me to his lab and show me some of the things he was working on at the time. I think this really inspired me to want to work in a lab.”
Van Engelenburg worked under Professor Amy Palmer at the Palmer Laboratory of the CU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for the last several years.
“The overall focus of Schuyler's work in the lab has been to develop strategies for tracking bacterial proteins during the course of infection,” said Palmer. “Numerous pathogenic bacteria have a sophisticated way of injecting bacterial proteins into host organisms as a way of initiating infection. Schuyler has developed two approaches for tagging these bacterial proteins with fluorescent molecules so that we can track them during infections. Better understanding the mechanism of infection by disease-causing bacteria could ultimately contribute to new methods of prevention and treatment of bacterial infection in host organisms, from people to crops and livestock.”
She continued, “It has been a pure joy working with Schuyler. I have not yet encountered something he can not do. He mastered bacterial genetics to recombine tagged genes into salmonella's genome; he did classical biochemistry and cell biology to demonstrate that tagging bacterial proteins did not perturb the overall invasion process; he has a keen eye and excelled at live cell imaging; he even synthesized an inhibitor of the Type III Secretion System (the system used by pathogens to inject proteins into host organisms).”
Van Engelenburg is definitely not all work and no play. He participated on an intramural ice hockey team through the university when he had the time, and went snowboarding at Eldora, near Nederland, on the weekends.
“What was nice about that mountain was that it reminded me of Sunlight and also that I could go up early on a Saturday morning, get 8-10 runs in, and be back by noon to do some experiments in the lab.
Eventually, Van Engelenburg would like to run his own research laboratory at a university.
“I'm excited by the thought of coming up with new technology and applying it to understand how our cells work at the molecular level,” he continued. “All the while I would be able to mentor the next best and brightest scientists who can hopefully go on to make an impact on our understanding of biology in health and disease.”
Nice going, Schuyler. This young man is a great example of the quality of our local youth and their contribution to the betterment of our world. We can all hope for a healthier future.
— Kay Vasilakis' “New Castle News” column appears every other Thursday in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent. To contact her for possible mention of a positive local news item or event, please e-mail kvasilakis2222@gmail.com or call 618-6689.
