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She practically did cartwheels in the labs of the Biomedical
Research Building when she read the news.
photo by Mike Sands
Kate Reinicke gets good news through
e-mail.
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Kate Reinicke, a third-year biochemistry graduate student, had
just gotten back from a seminar and was checking her e-mail one
last time at the end of the day when she saw the note. It congratulated
her on winning a prestigious travel award to attend the Meeting
of the Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany.
"I jumped up and down and screamed," she said. "(Fellow grad
student) Melissa Bentle gave me a hug, and I skipped over to my
boyfriend's lab (Justin Roth who is working on a doctorate in
Stanton Gerson's laboratory)."
Reinicke is one of 25 American students who received the same
e-mail, and, illustrating CWRU's powerful learning environment,
the second student from the CWRU School of Medicine in recent
history (Tracy Criswell, a graduate student from the same lab,
won in 2000).
The award lets Reinicke travel to Germany this summer to spend
a week in the presence of Nobelists from around the world. This
53rd annual meeting is the only time that all living Nobel laureates
from all disciplines attend one meeting at the same time, making
it a very exciting event for a graduate student.
Reinicke's time will be spent hearing the laureates lecture and
lead small group sessions on this year's theme of biology and
medicine. The meeting is sponsored by the Department of Energy,
Director of the Office of Science.
Although working on a doctorate in biochemistry, Reinicke is
conducting research in the laboratory of David A. Boothman, professor
of radiation oncology. Reinicke's research focuses on the mechanisms
of action of a drug called §-lapachone, which is a potential cancer
fighting agent derived from the bark of a South American rainforest
tree. She is learning how this agent kills cancer cells through
its interaction with an enzyme that some tumors overproduce.
An avid hiker originally from Wausau, Wis., Reinicke will spend
an extra week with her boyfriend tracking through the German hills
and mountains . . . and maybe even doing a few cartwheels.
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