October 15, 2024
University of Birmingham fourth-year student Max Griffin developed a passion for chemical and biochemical research while spending hundreds of hours in Albion College labs. He liked it so much that he developed a desire to participate in research, but he wanted to experience it on a larger scale, he said.
“I wanted to work on a larger project in a larger lab to see what this type of collaboration is like,” Griffin said.
Griffin found that opportunity this summer thanks to an internship at the National Cancer Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, in Frederick, Maryland. He spent nearly three months investigating ways to better characterize the immune system’s response to tumors.
With advice and guidance from his lab supervisor and other researchers, Griffin set out to find and optimize steps to create a molecule that had never been completed before. His job was to test various reactions involving peptide sequences that are modified by the immune system. The short-term goal of the research is to create molecules that can help assess the inner workings of immune system responses. The most promising responses will be scaled up and replicated by other researchers with the long-term goal of helping develop treatments to fight cancer.
Obviously, this work required an incredible level of skill, but on some level, Griffin said, benchwork itself isn’t the hardest part of academia.
He said one of the most difficult parts of synthetic chemistry is spending time on reactions that don’t work. “Synthesis is known to have its ups and downs,” Griffin explained. “To make the doldrums more bearable, I tell myself I’m one step closer to a solution. I take comfort in knowing what not to do.”
The internship required Griffin to learn a series of new skills, including manual and automated peptide synthesis, characterization of amino acid chains, and a variety of equipment he had never used before. He credits Albion chemistry professors Craig Stroy and Chris Rollman with preparing him for these successes.
In addition to technical knowledge, Stroy has cultivated a high-quality research environment that allows people to work in any laboratory, large or small.
“The Stroy Group has allowed me to work collaboratively with others in much the same way I did at NCI,” Griffin said. “Doctor, Stroy’s encouragement for researchers to learn autonomy gave me an advantage right after I joined the lab.”
As for Rohrman, “he dedicated a lot of his class time to teaching us how to analyze scientific papers,” Griffin said. “Dr. Rollman taught me high-level academic subjects in an easy-to-understand manner, and he was always available when I needed anything outside of class.”
Max Griffin is majoring in biochemistry with minors in cell and molecular biology and is a member of the Prentice M. Brown Honors Program. President of the Emergency Medical Services Club and the Biochemistry Club, Griffin is a member of Delta Tau Delta and a chemistry teaching assistant. He is the son of Sherry and Graham Griffin of Birmingham and a graduate of E.W. Seaholm High School.
