Spotlight on Systems Biology Student Catherine Cao

On the Systems Biology Program . . .

Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? What drew you to Virginia Tech?

I’m an international student from China. Now that I’m a Junior, two years ago was my second time in the US. My intention of choosing Virginia Tech was to find a nice and quiet place to study. Sort of away from the big cities that would distract me from school.

Why did you decide to major in Systems Biology?

I took the two-year course of ISC and learned about Systems Biology from this class. I’m always a person who loves new stuff such as the most advanced technology, the brand-new ideas and inventions, and the most up-to-date science. I wanted to study something different and I believed Systems Biology would become an area that leads to the evolution of science.

What has been your favorite part of the Systems Biology program so far?

From the intro class, we got to meet so many different professors and learn about their outstanding research on a variety of great subjects including gene and protein regulatory networks, stochastic models of gene, the dynamics in immune systems and viruses… This class broadened my vision that I learned about so many possibilities in this area.

What has surprised you about Systems Biology?

I’d say it’s the interactions among computer sciences, mathematics and biology, which make biology a less abstract subject. The old way of learning biology was to remember many hard vocabularies and concepts. I’m bad at remembering things so I used to find it difficult to learn. Systems Biology makes the knowledge pieces into a network and that finally helped me associate all the broken pieces with each other and built them into a full system.   

You completed the Integrated Science Curriculum (ISC) last spring. What was your experience in ISC like?

In ISC, we had a small group of about 40 students and spent 2 years together studying the sciences. How ISC keeps the class small is what I like the most. Working in a small team and solving science problems as a project is one of the best ways to learn it.

How do you think ISC helped prepared you for your Systems Biology coursework?

Following the same idea, ISC is a way of combining different science subjects together, and Systems Biology is trying to look at the biology problems as an integration by using a computational or mathematical approach. We learned many techniques of solving problems in ISC including a taste of programming that was a great help.

Describe an experience you have had in ISC or Systems Biology that stands out to you.

At the end of each semester we had to do a research presentation. In order to well prepare for this presentation, a lot of extra research on the background information and many parallel or horizontal comparisons needed to be done. This process helped me develop professional skills of gathering information and presenting them in a good way.

How do you think ISC and Systems Biology differ from traditional science classes?

I got so used to ISC, that having to take a traditional science class in a huge lecture room with hundreds of people was an actual challenge to me. It was hard for me to keep focus on a single topic for over an hour and it’s also difficult to get information among hundreds of people. It’s easy for me to get distracted. In ISC, one of the great things is to relate several different subjects with each other. It’s an important idea for a scientist to know not only is his/her professional area but also in some associated areas.

Have you interned anywhere? If so, where did you work? Can you describe your experience?

I was working with a medical company that produces glucosamine and chondroitin products that are good for joint health. Since I know Chinese, and the company is trying to open their Chinese market, I helped them with some interpreting work with my knowledge of hard science vocabularies. I got the chance to read many of their research studies and got lots of professional knowledge on producing medical health products.

Have you participated in undergraduate research? If so, what did you work on?

Over this summer, I got to work with the Joint Research Center for Bone and Joint Disease, Model Animal Research Center in Nanjing University, China with a group of medical students. There were several different research projects going on and the major projects were on cartilage health and osteoarthritis. My work was to build cartilage damage models mostly on experimental animals.

What career path do you hope to follow?

I would like to stick to medical field. I hope to keep studying and I have no rush to find a job.

What has been the highlight of your Hokie career do far?

Looking back on the past 2 years, I can see my growth as a student, a daughter and a future specialist. I hope to make sure I’m doing something meaningful that can be put on my portfolio to prove that I’m a useful person.