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John P. Cassady
When he was in high school, John Cassady could bench-press his own weight, but his skills at a different kind of bench—a lab bench—are where he shines these days. A summer of work as an undergraduate researcher with HHMI investigator Bruce Walker at Massachusetts General Hospital has inspired Cassady to pursue a Ph.D. in biochemistry and a career in HIV research.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
Photo: Kathleen Dooher
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Cassady grew up in Minnesota, where he focused on sports as well as academics. As a senior in high school, he was captain of both the football and track teams, and he competed in the Junior Nationals Olympic-style weightlifting championship. From sports, he says, he learned how to cooperate, manage time, and deal with disappointment—skills that should serve him well in a career in scientific research.
With his sights set on being a nuclear engineer to help develop nuclear power for cars, Cassady won admission to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But during the summer between his freshman and sophomore years of college, he worked for a biology professor at the University of Minnesota. "It was a mundane job, just pipetting and using the mass spectrometer machine, but it was exciting," he says. So, as a sophomore, he switched majors to biology, determined to pursue research "that can actually make a difference in someone's life."
Cassady is drawn to the challenge of fighting AIDS. As a participant in HHMI's Exceptional Research Opportunities Program (EXROP), which offers summer research experiences for disadvantaged and minority undergraduates in the labs of HHMI investigators or HHMI professors, Cassady worked with Walker to analyze HIV's ability to evade immune response by altering the expression of messenger RNA (mRNA) in cells. During his EXROP experience, he says, he was inspired to pursue graduate work in HIV research. He has continued working in Walker's lab approximately 15 hours a week throughout his senior year.
"I chose to research HIV because I'm very interested in how the virus works and the development of a cure for this devastating disease," explained Cassady, 22. He envisions using new techniques, such as stem-cell research, to increase the body's immune response to the virus.
From his own experience changing majors, however, Cassady realizes that goals can change. So he has decided to pursue a Ph.D. in biochemistry, to master versatile research techniques that can be applied to different fields. Currently applying to graduate schools, Cassady is confident about his future. "I know that as long as I work my hardest and stay determined, I will not disappoint myself."
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