News

May 30, 2009

Hanover Twp. man joining Harvard Medical School as research fellow

By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

HANOVER TWP. – Jason Zoeller has traveled across America studying science.

Now the 26-year-old Hanover Township native will join the research staff at Harvard Medical School in July as a research fellow studying breast cancer.

“I knew that a career in science was intriguing to me. I always found myself asking ‘why did this occur.’ Science is the profession that would allow me to answer those questions every day,” Zoeller said.

Zoeller graduated from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia Friday, receiving his doctorate degree in cell and developmental biology.

Dr. Zoeller is thrilled to begin working at Harvard under Dr. Joan Brugge, considered an international leader in breast cancer research. He hopes his research will help lead to finding a cure for cancer or at least slowing the disease’s progression.

“Cancer is so widespread and there is so much we don’t understand. I would like to try to make a difference,” he said.

Zoeller’s passion for scientific research has been evident for more than a decade, his mentor, Dr. George Moses, said.

Moses, the former chief of surgery for Mercy Hospital, said researchers are the backbone of the medical community. He believes Zoeller will achieve his desire to make a difference in the world.

“Without young capable people going into research and medicine our future is lost. I wouldn’t be surprised if he won a Nobel Prize somewhere down the line,” Moses said.

When Zoeller was an undergraduate student at King’s College in 2001, he traveled to China for three weeks as part of the National Youth Leader Forum on Medicine program.

He also gained research experience when he participated in the summer research fellowship programs at Guthrie Research Institute in Sayre, Pa. in 2002 and Mayo Clinic and Graduate School in Minnesota in 2003.

From 2001 through 2004 he participated in an undergraduate honors research program at King’s College under Dr. Debra Stamper.

For the majority of the last five years, as Zoeller pursued his doctorate he worked in a research lab at Jefferson University under the leadership of the Dr. Renato Iozzo, president of the International Society for Matrix Biology.

Through his research Zoeller discovered a particular protein, perlecan, is needed to develop blood vessels.

His thesis was one of three out of 20 theses selected as “Thesis of the Year” by the Jefferson College of Graduate Studies.

At Harvard, Zoeller will join nine other research fellows as he studies how normal cells invade the breast and then develop into cancerous cells.

Brugge, chairwoman of the cell biology department at Harvard Medical School, looks forward to having Zoeller on her team.

She was impressed with Zoeller when she learned he took the initiative to begin using zebrafish as an experimental animal as he conducted research on blood vessel development. Zoeller was the first researcher to use zebrafish to study the perlecan and blood vessel development.

Brugge met Zoeller for the first time last year at a conference when he presented his thesis research. She knew she wanted to hire him after he interviewed at Harvard earlier this year and gave an oral presentation.

“He confirmed my original thought that he was a very bright and highly motivated young scientist. He has a broad and strong interest in science and research,” Brugge said.

Sherry Long, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7159.

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