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In 2019, as a U.S. scientific ambassador on a trip to South Africa, then-graduate-
student Joshua Ames was looking forward to practicing his talk on his virology
Ph.D. work. At the time, he didn’t realize he would also bring back more than the
souvenirs packed in his suitcase.
When presenting his work to faculty members at the Stellenbosch University
medical school, Ames highlighted how he had deleted a protein from both
genetically engineered mice and human cells in culture to show the protein’s
importance in protecting against viral infections. “The cancer biologists and
immunologists there suggested several other cell culture lines to test,” he
recalls. “It was a small suggestion from a group that wouldn’t have encountered
my work otherwise.”
This brief moment of scientific exchange led Ames to go back and add human
corneal, neuronal, and skin cells to his project. “It expanded our understanding
of how this protein protects certain tissues in the body,” says Ames, now a
postdoctoral fellow at University of Washington in Seattle. It also earned him a
first-author Nature Communications paper in September 2021.
This free-flowing exchange of knowledge between science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students and leading international
researchers is exactly why the Louis Stokes Regional NSF International
Center of Excellence (LSAMP-NICE) program was created. Now, the program
is expanding its horizons to include more international partnerships so that
more underrepresented graduate students can benefit from global research
exchanges and mentorship [see sidebar: Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority
Participation].These partnerships are two-way, mutually beneficial endeavors, says Romilla
Maharaj, executive director of Human and Infrastructure Capacity Development
for South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) in Pretoria.
“There are a lot of ways that we as a country punch above our weight. We
have internationally competitive, world-leading researchers and facilities like
the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope and the iThemba LABS particle
accelerators” from which students can learn, develop, and grow as researchers,
she says.Expanding who gets to do global research
Ames and another doctoral student at the time, Jason Garcia, represented
the Illinois LSAMP alliance on the South Africa visit. “We went to show the level
of research that LSAMP Ph.D. students are performing and to start building
relationships with top universities in South Africa,” says Ames. During the trip,
the two attended Science Forum South Africa in Pretoria, toured the iThemba
LABS particle accelerator facility near Faure, visited the Cradle of Humankind
museum, hiked up Table Mountain, and presented their work at Stellenbosch
University and Cape Town University.
The trip was culturally and scientifically eye-opening for the two students,
and in some ways, helped shape their career directions [see sidebar: LSAMP
Alumni Success Stories]. The LSAMP-NICE program broadens the participation
of underrepresented students in STEM fields by facilitating international
research experiences through conferences, internships, or months-long
research exchanges between laboratories.Advertorial
LSAMP-NICE expands international exchanges between
underrepresented STEM students and their host laboratories
PHOTO: COURTESY OF LSAMPUnderrepresented STEM students can visit and conduct research in numerous locations in South America, Africa, and Europe, including Bourdeaux, France.0408Product.indd 112 3/31/22 9:36 AM