Your philanthropic support removes barriers to research and invests in student potential.
For sophomores Alice Rho and Jolee Zhou, research isn’t just something they hope to do someday. It’s already shaping their undergraduate experience at WashU and potentially the future of medicine for decades to come.
Thanks to support from the M.R. Metzger Family Foundation, both students are conducting original biophysics research in the Department of Physics. The funding provides 200 hours of dedicated research support each year, giving students such as Rho and Zhou early, meaningful access to high-level scientific inquiry.
Their work — guided by faculty mentor Dr. Shankar Mukherji — explores distinct but complementary aspects of cellular organization and behavior, with potential applications in medicine and biotechnology. While Rho is using computational modeling to understand cellular dynamics, Zhou is developing experimental tools to explore how cells monitor and respond to changes in organelle composition. Together, they are pushing the boundaries of what undergraduates can achieve in the lab.
This project is giving me hands-on experience in using imaging data to uncover latent spaces and predictive models for cell behavior.
Alice Rho, Class of 2027
“Jolee and Alice are exploring two very different edges of where our research is taking us,” Mukherji said. “They’re demonstrating levels of independence and persistence you’d expect from senior grad students and postdocs.”
This kind of groundbreaking work is made possible because of philanthropic support that removes barriers to research and invests in student potential. In addition to financial access, students gain mentorship, training, and the confidence to imagine bold futures.
“I’m interested in applying biophysics principles to understand how cellular behavior impacts health and disease,” Rho said. “This project is giving me hands-on experience in using imaging data to uncover latent spaces and predictive models for cell behavior.”
Zhou, who is building a tool to regulate molecular exchange between cells and their organelles, added, “I hope to align my research with the potential development of medicine that can directly help cure patients.”