North Park University Interns Investigate Synthetic Biology at Northwestern

When senior Bogdan Buzdugan first learned about the Center for Synthetic Biology’s new internship for North Park University undergraduates, he had just finished his last final of the semester.

“I thought the application would be due in a month, but it was due that day by 5:00 p.m.,” said Buzdugan, a molecular biology and biotechnology (MBBT) major at North Park. “I had an hour-and-a-half before the deadline. Luckily, I already had my CV ready, so I just got in the zone—wrote my personal statement and all the other application materials and submitted it.”

A month later, Buzdugan was accepted into the program along with fellow senior Arancha Alzola, a senior also majoring in MBBT at North Park.
The internship program idea was originally hatched between Danielle Tullman-Ercek, Co-Director of the CSB, and Timothy Lin, Professor of Biology at North Park.

“We wanted to provide the opportunity to expose North Park undergraduates, particularly given that many are local, to research at Northwestern to give them a feel for what research at an R1 institution is like,” said Tullman-Ercek, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. “We also wanted to help them build mentorship networks to explore the varied career options available in the synthetic biology and biotechnology space beyond patient-centric positions such as doctor or physician’s assistant or clinical lab technician.”

The unpaid internship provides North Park’s MBBT students a one-quarter placement in a CSB faculty lab. The students receive course credit from North Park while contributing to CSB lab work each week. Throughout their placement, students consult with Lin, their program advisor. In addition to completing a research project, students are expected to fulfill additional requirements (schedule-permitting), including participating in regular lab meetings, a program evaluation, and other CSB community activities.

“Synthetic biology is a new and significant field that intersects biology, molecular biology, and biotechnology,” says Lin. “I wanted to expose students to real-world research and industry experiences.”

In 2017, North Park designed its molecular biology and biotechnology major to better prepare students for laboratory work and help strengthen their critical thinking skills. Lin reached out to the CSB for external advising as part of the Industrial Advisory plan.

“CSB has become our most important resource for program development,” says Lin.

Levering North Park University’s ties to Northwestern, Lin invited CSB co-directors Tullman-Ercek and Lucks to give talks to North Park students. In turn, the Northwestern professors invited Lin and his students to tour their labs. The exchange proved mutually beneficial.

The first North Park student to work in a Northwestern synthetic biology lab was Liam Bristol. Two years ago, he landed a summer research opportunity in Tullman-Ercek’s lab. The experience proved so positive that he continued working in the lab throughout his senior year.
In 2025, the internship program with Northwestern was finalized.

Learning Novel Science and Techniques

This quarter, Buzdugan is working in the lab of Joshua Leonard, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

“My project specifically focuses on transcriptional regulation, so it’s so multifaceted,” says Buzdugan. “We’re introducing something very novel involving a plant gene that we’ve transfected into a human kidney cell to see if we could code it to reverse transcription regulation.”

Alzola, who hails from Madrid, Spain, is conducting her internship in Tullman-Ercek’s lab.

“It’s been a great experience so far. I’m working under Jake Miller, a PhD student and my mentor. My project is closely related to his research on self-assembling proteins of micro compartments,” says Alzola. “He’s teaching me techniques like cell-free protein synthesis and fluorescent microscopy and guiding me through the process. It’s really cool.”

In addition to providing hands-on research experience, the internship familiarizes students with potential career paths in industry or academia and what it takes to pursue a PhD.

While Alzola plans to attend graduate school, Buzdugan will focus on taking the MCAT to gain more hands-one research experience in a university lab before applying to Northwestern (his dream school) to obtain an MD/PhD.

“The internship was my test to see if this path was really for me. Every day since I walked into Northwestern, it’s become increasingly clear that this is something I want to do,” said Buzdugan. “What interests me about synthetic biology is that it is a growing and novel field. We are still barely scratching the surface, and there’s so much more that we still need to investigate and discover.”

by Lisa La Vallee