Alex Smith

Goofy
My name is Alexander Ryan Smith and I am a recent graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco. My interest in molecular biology came about when I was introduced to it during a two-year biotechnology program at my high school. During this program, my instructor recommended that I enroll in a tissue culture class at San Francisco City College. I absolutely loved this class because I had the opportunity to differentiate mouse stem cells into heart muscle. I thought it was fascinating the moment I looked through the microscope and observed the sample of beating heart muscle. When my biotechnology instructor noticed my dedication to his class and to the tissue culture class, he became confident that I would be a great member of the UCSF iGEM team. Doing research at UCSF this summer bolstered my interest in science because it allowed me to carry out experiments that were on the cusp of human knowledge. In addition, I attained confidence in the fact that I was given the opportunity to have input along with my peers in this project. Having had the opportunity to design a project at a world-class research university has been a unique experience considering that I just graduated from high school. At the present time, I am attending the University of California at Santa Barbara majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology.