Engineering the Summer is an annual series following UChicago Pritzker Molecular Engineering students as they embark on summer internships and career experiences.
Undergraduate Michael Bolgov spends the school year researching the origins of life on Earth in the lab of University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) Dean Emeritus Matthew Tirrell, in collaboration with the laboratory of Chemistry Professor Jack Szostak.
He’s spending his summer researching how to save lives as an intern for the life sciences company Bruker in Bremen, Germany. His work will help doctors diagnose and treat patients with sepsis more quickly and efficiently.
Bolgov shared some of his experiences for UChicago PME’s yearly Engineering the Summer series:
What first sparked your interest in your area of study?
Growing up, I was very interested in how things work and how they came to be. Obviously, the origin of life on Earth is one of the main fundamental questions of humanity, along with the origin of the universe. I loved reading Stephen Hawking’s books, so maybe that was my first spark of interest into science or fundamental questions.
What research are you focused on at UChicago PME?
At UChicago PME, I am focused on origin of life research, for which RNA is integral, as it can store genetic information and act as a protein enzyme to catalyze reactions. I study non-enzymatic RNA primer extension reactions, where an RNA template strand is copied by adding complementary nucleotides to a growing primer strand. Then, my project focuses on concentrating the reactants into polymer droplets, called coacervates.
What has been your experience so far this summer at your internship?
It has been extremely interesting and has opened up the world of industrial customer-focused applications of engineering. I have enjoyed working on medical devices that will be used by hospitals in the next few years, which has been very fulfilling for me, especially when considering customer needs.
What do you find most exciting about your internship?
I find it exciting that I have been able to combine the knowledge and experience that I have gained in my UChicago PME lab experiences, classes and Recognized Student Organizations I have been part of to test, research and develop the machines at my internships. I am also very excited about the engineering side of things—I enjoy thinking deeply about the problems at hand and trying to find their origin and solve the issues.
What impact do you think your field will have on the world in the next 10 to 20 years?
The machines I’m working on in my internship are primarily concerned with helping sepsis patients identify their infection bacteria and pair them with appropriate antibiotics. Sepsis is a leading cause of death and quick bacterial identification is integral to preventing death, so I hope that the work I am doing is able to assist in that goal.
What role do you hope to play in that vision of the future?
I hope to continue working on breakthrough scientific advancements, whether that be in industry or academia. I believe that research right now is working toward helping humanity find more about the world and will ultimately help us be more informed in solving some of the world’s biggest problems.
What else would you like people reading the article to know about you, your internship or your research area?
As someone who is unsure about the exact direction I want to take in my career, it has been amazing to have the opportunity to explore such different topics in my different experiences, while also being able to take a lot from each experience to the next.