Four alumni of the San Jose State Wilkinson Neurophysiology Lab took part in groundbreaking research that won a Nobel Prize earlier this year, and the lab continues to foster students who make noteworthy discoveries.
The Wilkinson Lab is a Neurophysiology laboratory founded and run by biological science professor Katherine Wilkinson.
The lab is interested in understanding how the body senses information from the environment according to its website.
“It is a pretty basic science lab where we're just trying to understand how these neurons work, and then what happens when they go wrong,” Wilkinson said. “And so we've got a few different projects going on in the lab, that are aiming to understand and identify some of these molecular players, and then also look at different diseases.”
Students of the Wilkinson lab have been doing experiments on mice to understand more about neurons and their activity. Wilkinson said these experiments are carried out ethically because she is the chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee is an organization that ensures that the human care and use of animals are carried out in a respectful, ethical, and responsible manner.
The Wilkinson lab started 10 years ago, and it offers students the opportunity to engage in a professional environment.
“There's a joke in a lot of research-heavy institutions that the undergrads are there to wash the beakers, and that's about all they do,” Wilkinson said. “That's not the case here in SJSU. They're actually doing the lab work. And many of the students that have done really well in the lab have gone on to biotech jobs in the area.”
Wilkinson said the lab is entirely student-driven. She said she works as a guide and offers resources even if all the work is done by the students.
Biomedical graduate student Nikola Klier worked on research in Wilkinson’s lab from 2016 to 2020, and his research was included in the Nobel prize winning-publication.
Klier said it was possible for the students to earn the Nobel Prize award for their publication because of Wilkinson’s collaborative efforts.
“I believe Dr. Wilkinson was phenomenal,” Klier said. “The amount of investment she has into finding the types of people who do really groundbreaking novel science in this area, being able to get their help with our research, and having our research helps theirs which results in our most recent publication.
She said there’s a strong sense of community that Wilkinson lab fostered by ensuring everyone has some involvement and gain experience with different projects.
Klier currently studies at University of California, Santa Barbara in the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Ph.D. program.
Physiology graduate student Serena Ortiz works as the lab manager for Wilkinson’s Lab. She said she has gained years of experience through her research in the lab.
“The fact that I was trusted with so many big things as an undergraduate was kind of amazing,” Ortiz said. “[Wilkinson] also accepted me into her lab as a Master's student [she] kind of allowed me to further my education that way.”
Molecular biology senior Sonika Saraiya, who works on the optogenetics team in the Wilkinson Lab, said she has found several opportunities because of her work in the lab.
Optogenetics is the biological technique of using light to control and monitor neuron activity within a cell, according to a NeuronUp, a neuroscience website.
The lab uses updated technology specifically engineered for the experiments.
“We have always had access to a lot of resources, kind of like at the snap of a finger, we got whatever we wanted,” Saraiya said. “We were able to order things because our department puts a lot of emphasis on undergraduate research.”
The students work three days a week during their designated shifts to carry out their research.
“I do think it's a really good environment to be in,” Ortiz said. “I think that's one thing that I really like about SJSU is that it's so undergrad driven and people like me are able to get a lab manager position, whereas I think at other schools, I wouldn't have had that opportunity.”
Saraiya, along with biological sciences senior Denise Virgen, were selected and funded by the RISE program, a program that supports students internationally by funding them.
The RISE program invested in both Saraiya and Virgen’s attendance at the Annual Biomed Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists. The two students were able to present their research on optogenetics and had the opportunity to meet with other minority scientists who had similar goals.
“Through this lab I’ve gotten the opportunity to join a program in Anaheim for a research conference,” Saraiya said. “It was specifically for minority scientists and we got to present posters of our research and I think that was a life changing experience, if not humbling. Everybody was doing the same thing as me and I learned so much.”
Saraiya also said the Wilkinson lab is notably diverse with the number of female students outnumbering the amount of male students.
“I really like the way the lab is majority female and student led,” Saraiya said. “I feel like the lab is so well run, everyone just works well together. It’s been going on for 10 years now and it’s very respectable research.”
The lab currently has twenty members and is still looking to grow in the future.
“The lab is allowing me to confirm that this is what I want to do, what I want to pursue,” Saraiya said. “I really enjoy physiology and it is a really good opportunity to practice skills that are so advanced. I’m really honing in on what skills I really want to be doing for the rest of my life in medical school.”
