Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program Elevates Diversity in the Life Sciences
When Tayler Smith entered UC Davis as a freshman two years ago, she knew she had a strong interest in life sciences research. But at the time, she had no idea what research was, or how it was carried out in the laboratory.
Fortunately, that’s no longer the case.
Smith—a neurobiology, physiology and behavior major— decided to pursue molecular biology research in November 2017. She joined the lab of Professor Keith Baar, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, and over the past summer, worked to develop an innovative model of muscle lost.
“We want to learn how the muscle is losing mass in order to know how to help it gain and retain mass,” said Smith.
Members of Baar’s Functional Molecular Biology Lab study the processes that regulate muscle mass at a molecular level, with the goal of identifying molecules critical to the process. A component of that research is understanding atrophy, the loss of muscle mass.
Smith’s research project concerns the tibialis anterior, which is the muscle located in front of the shin. Using rats, the team developed a new model where they removed the opposing muscles to decrease the load on the tibialis anterior. Smith is trying to understand how this causes the tibialis anterior to waste away in the hope of preventing the loss of muscle.
Smith credits finding her path to Baar’s lab to the UC Davis Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program (BUSP), an enrichment program promoting diversity in the life sciences. Open to incoming freshmen, the two-year program seeks to increase retention of underrepresented minority, disadvantaged, and disabled students in the life sciences across all four undergraduate colleges at UC Davis.
“It’s been an eye-opener, if you will, because I don’t have family who does research,” said Smith. “I’ve learned what research is and it’s been a really good experience learning how to be a research professional.”