Dana Haley was a first-semester graduate student at UCLA when Dr. Wayne Hubbell of the Jules Stein Eye Institute introduced her to Dr. Joseph Horwitz and the protein alpha-B-crystallin. Dr. Horwitz researches the structure of the protein, which was first found in the lens of the eye, and Dana provided assistance.

When she left Jules Stein for the other rotations of her first year in the UCLA ACCESS program, Dana continued to study the same protein. In Dr. Phoebe Stewart's biological imaging lab, and later in Dr. Todd Yeates's X-ray crystallography lab, she learned how to examine the structure of the protein using state of the art technology.

Since then, she's continued to study alpha-B-crystallin with remarkable success in both Dr. Stewart and Dr. Horwitz's labs. An article about her discoveries was recently on the cover of the Journal of Molecular Biology. "Proteins are usually rigid and regular, like the framework of a building," Dana says, summing up her findings. "In contrast, Alpha-B-crystallin changes size and shape to suit different needs."

Using cryo-electron microscopy, Dana freezes a sample of alpha-B-crystallin for examination. With this technique, there's no need to use stains or fixatives, "which may distort, flatten or dehydrate your sample," Dana says. "We look at the protein in its native biological state." Then she studies it in three-dimensions, thanks to computer image processing.

Her ongoing PhD work involves relating the protein's structure to its functions. Alpha-B-crystallin functions as a small heat-shock protein and molecular chaperone. Besides being found in the lens of the eye, the protein appears elsewhere in the body, such as the brain, heart, skin, and kidney, interacting with other proteins. In addition, the protein may be implicated in neurological ailments such as Alzheimer's disease, Cruetzfeldt-Jacob disease, and multiple sclerosis.

Although she continues to work at the Jules Stein Institute as well, Dana is formally part of the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. "Dana is both highly motivated and focused on doing research," says her adviser, Dr. Stewart. "When she came to us, she had a clear idea of what she wanted to work on, and two years later, she has a firm time line for completing her graduate studies."

Dana is one of four students who have come to Dr. Stewart's lab through the ACCESS Program in Molecular, Cellular and Integrated Life Sciences. The ACCESS Program allows first-year graduate students to explore UCLA's resources before committing to a particular department. Like Dana, ACCESS students often cross institutional and academic boundaries in pursuing their work.

The program provides "hundreds of professors to choose from, doing all different types of research," Dana said. "No other program I learned about offered those opportunities." It was a match made in heaven for Dana, who had arranged her academic career to give herself plenty of time to settle on a field of interest.

When she graduated from high school in Danville, California, in 1988, "I loved all of the courses I took," Dana says. "I didn't have a clear direction." She chose to begin at a junior college, Diablo Valley College, where she was introduced to science and discovered that she had interest in nutrition, microbiology, and chemistry. After finishing with honors in 1991, she transferred to California State University, Long Beach, as a biochemistry major.

Paying her way with scholarships from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the American Heart Association, Dana was also a campus leader, president of her college's Student Council for two years. Thanks to this experience, she lost her natural shyness by the time she graduated cum laude in 1995.

She also discovered that she loved teaching. At Cal State Long Beach she was a supplemental instructions teacher in chemistry, organic chemistry, and biological chemistry. This academic year, she is a graduate teaching assistant for Pharmacology 110A/B in the Molecular and Medical Pharmacology Department.

And although her achievements at UCLA would open the doors of many research institutions to her, Dana says she'll be taking her PhD back to a state college or biotechnic company in the San Francisco Bay area.

"I either want to teach underrepresented students and get them interested in new technologies or work in industry," she says. Acknowledging that quality research laboratories are not usually within the budget of a typical state college, Dana insists that she'll write grants for funding and teach. "It will be a hard start," she said, "but it is a great feeling to see students understand the concepts of science and new technology, and I hope to inspire them."

Published in Fall 1998, Graduate Quarterly