Connecting students to prestigious institutions

Matthew Strand, a senior studying math and computer science, is visiting the National Center for Biotechnology Information this month, thanks to some help from Chapman faculty. Strand will meet with researchers and attend research meetings to discuss the latest and greatest in comparative analysis of biomolecular structures.

His path to the internship came in a roundabout way. Last fall, Bill Wright, Ph.D., associate professor of biological sciences, tapped Strand to help him study the evolution of limpets that live in tide pools. Also working on the project: Keun-Hang “Susan” Yang, Ph.D., professor of computational science and computational biology. Dr. Yang knew some experts at the National Institutes of Health, who put the Chapman team in touch with James Song, Ph.D., at the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
 
Dr. Song suggested the Chapman team try new techniques. In science lingo, the method involves looking at the 3D structure of folded proteins. When Dr. Song saw that Strand was interested in attempting this method, he arranged for a visit to NCBI outside Washington, D.C.