Thoughts on Theses: Maristhela Alvarez
Q: Before we begin, can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey to Amherst?
A: Yes! I found out about Amherst my junior year because my school did a fly-in program, and then I matched with Questbridge. It’s been cool — I love it. I am a biochemistry and biophysics major, but I’m on the biochemistry track. I came in pre-med, and then quickly realized, no, I’m not that committed, so now I’m kind of more on the research and grad school side. I tend to like the biology side of my major a bit more than the chemistry side. I think it has to do with the people that I’ve met on the biology faculty and staff — my professors and support system have been really amazing.
Q: What made you decide to write a thesis?
A: I did STEM Incubator the summer before my sophomore year, which is a first-gen[eration] low-income program to introduce [students] to research. That was with [Assistant] Professor [of Biology Marc A] Edwards, [Assistant] Professor [of Chemistry Christopher B.] Durr and [Assistant] Professor [of Statistics Brittney E.] Bailey. I think that program really swayed me to do research instead of medical school. So then I did an internship with the Meiklejohn Fellows program the summer before my junior year back home in Houston, and I did microbiology research, which is completely different than what I’m doing right now. It was cool because I got to see a side of biology that I hadn’t seen at Amherst yet. I think that also solidified that this was the kind of the lab, the bench work, that I wanted to do. And then for this past January Term, I reached out to [Assistant] Professor [of Biology] Katerina Ragkousi to work in her developmental biology lab. Even though I knew nothing about the subject, I was still so interested. And she was just like ‘Of course, let’s meet.’ It was so awesome, especially because she’s also a woman in science, and now I’m continuing my thesis with her as my advisor.
In her lab, we work with sea anemones. They’re very, very small. Learning how to clean and house them in a healthy environment was the first step of my training. We also have a lab technician in the lab named Anna Postnikova, and she’s amazing and has been very helpful throughout the whole process.
Q: That’s so awesome! So what is your thesis about?
A: I’m investigating cadherin localization in Nematostella vectensis, which is a species of starlet sea anemones. Cadherins are proteins that form cell-to-cell adhesions: When cells contact each other, there are a bunch of proteins that help them come together and attach to one another. NCAM2, which is a protein that previous thesis students have looked at, helps the epithelial layer, the outside of Nematostella cells, stay in formation. The sea anemones don’t have brains, which is very interesting, because they still have a nervous system, and that’s where NCAM2 is primarily expressed. When NCAM2 is knocked down, you get this disruption in the epithelial layer, and the cells end up becoming really big and it stops the development of the embryo.
I’m also working with Cadherin-3, which is a protein that also helps with cell adhesions and making a belt of cells. When you knock Cadherin-3 down, you silence it in a way, and the cadherin isn’t able to localize apically the way that it would in a regular embryo. So it also kind of stops development. So, I’m trying to see if Cadherin-3 and this NCAM2 protein work together to help build the epithelia, or if each of them is doing one separate thing on their own. I do that with microscopy images. [Amherst Biology Image Center Director] Lampros Panagnis taught me how to use this very fancy confocal microscope where I get to see all of my images.
Cadherins are in everyone: in you, in me, in the Nematostella. The Nematostella and humans share a common ancestor, therefore working with Nematostella gives us an insight on early evolution and mechanisms that could also be happening in us ... but we are not 100% sure about that yet. My thesis is helping us understand Nematostella and epithelium in general, because Nematostella is a newer organism studied in development, unlike mice and/or worms.
Q: Wow! That’s so interesting. What made you decide on this as your thesis topic?
A: NCAM 2 has been in the lab for a while … I’m also kind of building off the previous thesis students [Grace Lee ’24 and Julissa Tello ’23] who found NCAM 2 does disrupt epithelial development as the embryo grows. I decided on Cadherin-3 because of this paper I read that found that Cadherin-3 is needed for cell development. It was a new protein that our lab hasn’t really messed around with, but our professor was interested to see if it did work with NCAM 2 because previous students found that it was a critical protein. Ragkousi gave me the resources to find out what Cadherin-3 was, but I was on my own when it came to reading it. But she’s been a great thesis advisor, and we meet every week and we talk about the process that I’ve been going through. She’s given me the resources to really understand my project and didn’t just let me dive deep into it without knowing any of the facts.
Q: What has been the most exciting part of your thesis research so far?
A: I think seeing how excited my professor gets whenever I get results. It’s kind of a lengthy process because we have to wait a certain number of hours before we fix the embryos to halt them from developing. But I think actually seeing my results in front of me with these images that I take is the most exciting part. I took some images yesterday, and the most amazing part for me then was that I knew what I was looking for. There was a time early on in my thesis [when] I was taking images and I was like, ‘I don’t really know what I’m looking for.’ But now actually looking at the phenotype, and knowing the differences between an embryo that still has NCAM2, a healthy one, and the actual disrupted epithelium, one that isn’t developing, is very interesting. I’m lucky that I get to have my results in front of me week by week.
Q: That’s awesome. What’s been the most challenging part of your research?
A: Imaging for sure, and learning the imaging process. But also, because it’s a more biological thesis and I am a biochemistry major, sometimes I wonder about the functions that are happening within the cell that are kind of out of the range of what I’m really looking at.
Q: Do you see any of the work you’re doing now extending into your post-grad plans?
A: Working in this lab specifically has made me think about being a developmental biologist as a potential career. I know that I want to be a researcher, and I’m looking at working in some labs, maybe as a research assistant, for a few years before I go to grad school. That’s kind of the end goal — to get a Ph.D. I do think that I would love to keep working with Nematostella because they’re just really nice organisms; they’re feasible and they’re easy to work with in a lab … What’s made me most passionate is actually having my own project and knowing that this is kind of my baby, and also I’m presenting this thesis as not only my work, but it’s going to be contributing to my professor’s research in general.
Q: What’s your favorite study snack?
A: I get a lot of Grab-n-Go snacks. And I like the Nerds gummy clusters a lot. I don’t have them at hand all the time, but I love them.
Q: What are you involved in on campus besides your courses and thesis work?
A: I work at the Admissions Office, and I’m a member of Amherst’s Latinx affinity club, La Causa. I’m also a mentor in our Association of Women in Science here, so I have a freshman mentee [Anika Gupta ’28] and she’s awesome.
Q: That’s so cool. What other stuff do you like to do for fun to de-stress from your thesis work?
A: I like to see my friends. We’re all doing theses, so it’s nice to take breaks and hang out with each other. I like to go to the [Multicultural Resource Center] in Keefe — a couple of my friends work there, and it’s just a nice space where I get to hang out and decompress. If not that, I also love to just listen to music, bed rot, and watch some TV from time to time.
Q: Who were your top artists on Spotify Wrapped this year?
A: My top artist was Laufey, and then my second one was Ariana Grande. And then my third one was — okay I listen to the Bridgerton soundtrack when I’m doing homework, so it was literally my third. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ And then it was Frank Ocean, and then SZA.
Q: You have immaculate taste. Do you have any advice for students who are thinking about writing a thesis?
A: I think anyone should do it. Here’s the thing: If you feel like it’s not for you, once you start, you can turn it into special topics … If you don’t end up liking it, no one’s going to look at you and be like, ‘You gave up your thesis.’ Seriously, it’s such a supportive system and your professor will understand … I got a lot closer with my thesis advisor, and the lab-mates that I have in the lab are very sweet … If there’s a topic that you’re so passionate about, it won’t feel like it’s extra work. It will also help you solidify if you want to do research in the future. But yeah, it’s a very fun experience. And you get to meet other thesis students and have fun with them and hear what they’re doing. So it creates a little community within a big community.
Q: Is there anything else you want to share with the Amherst community?
A: I guess everyone says this, but honestly really enjoy every school year. And also don’t be scared to make new friends. It doesn’t matter if you’re a sophomore or a junior or a senior. Talk to new people. Talk to people in your class. I think junior year was really the year where I branched out and rekindled friendships from freshman year and broadened my horizons. It’s never too late to make new friends here, which I think is very nice.