Student Research at Duke

Yesterday I “interviewed” Dr. Blobe to find out how he got hooked on research. He has enjoyed science as long as he can remember and was proud to share with me the original copy of his first scientific paper, “The Effects of Diet Rate on Mice”…from his sixth grade science class! Although the material might be considered elementary, a glimpse of the paper showed the beginnings of a true “lab rat” as Dr. Blobe likes to refer to himself now. He continued to do research during high school and had his first research experience in a lab the summer after his freshman year at Notre Dame University. He recalls spending countless hours for six or even seven days a week (!) doing “manual labor” such as purifying ribonuleases, growing bacteria, and doing gel electrophoreses that today with the help of fancy smancy machines can be completed much more efficiently.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   After graduating with a chemistry major, Dr. Blobe went on to attend the MD/PhD program at Duke University. After completing the program, he went back to the lab for 2 years as a postdoc, got a research position while studying Protein Kinase C (PKC) and then his own lab at Duke. He recalled that the first few years were tough because in order to keep your lab you have to raise significant monetary support by writing many grants. Dr. Blobe chooses to employ all levels of researchers in his lab from undergraduates to medical students to post-docs “to provide them the opportunity and building blocks to figure out if they want to do research as a career”.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           A typical day for Dr. Blobe nowadays is as follows. He arrives at his office at 8 am and spends the day answering emails, writing grants/papers, reviewing papers, attending meetings/seminars, giving lectures to medical students/graduate students… On Tuesdays, he goes to the clinic to treat patients with colon and pancreatic cancer. At the end of the work day, he goes home, spends time with his kids, climbs on the Stairmaster while reading papers, and later spends about an hour more writing grants.  Dr. Blobe chose to conduct research particularly in cancer because he wants ”to make an impact in the future on the lives of patients with significant [medical] problems”. Finally when asked if he would like to share any last words, his first words were, “It’s the best job on earth!” He enjoys the ”constantly stimulating, changing, and growing environment and the opportunity to interact with bright, talented people.” Dr. Blobe-as both a researcher and mentor-hopes to make an impact on both the lives of patients as well as students interested in pursuing cancer research.                                                   

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