When she was younger, Maura O’Malley thought she wanted to become a medical doctor. That all changed when she discovered a passion for research through the Computational Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CoBB) master’s degree program. Now, O’Malley is preparing for graduation from CoBB while making an impact as a research intern at Mass General Brigham.
Finding purpose through research
O’Malley earned her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Virginia Tech. She knew she wanted to combine her interests in biology and computer science, so she applied to the CoBB program. Attending graduate school in a city like Pittsburgh with a strong scientific and medical community appealed to her after growing up in the beach community of Narragansett, Rhode Island.
While taking a Modern Methods in Structure-Based Drug Discovery course, she discovered a love for research. “I remember doing a project for Modern Methods, and I had this realization that I really like connecting the puzzle pieces and finding the problem within the data,” O’Malley said. “It solidified the feeling that this is what I want to do with my career.”
She wanted to strengthen her research skills in a real-world lab setting, so this summer she began an internship at Mass General Brigham in Boston. She is working in a dermatology lab that studies vitiligo, an autoimmune condition that causes patients to lose pigment in their skin.
This is a full-circle moment for O’Malley, who had once considered a career as a dermatologist. Now, she can advance discoveries in dermatological research. She is working on a project that involves analyzing lymphocyte cells and grouping them into cell types. These lymphocyte cells contribute to vitiligo by mistakenly targeting and destroying pigment-producing cells.
Having the opportunity to work in a research lab has been transformative for O’Malley, who will graduate from the CoBB program in August.
Planning for future adventures
“I’ve realized that I want to pursue my education even more now and potentially get my PhD,” she said. “I’d love to continue the research I started in the lab as a PhD project.”
After graduation, she is considering PhD programs in dermatology, immunology or biological sciences. She wants to learn more wet lab techniques to supplement her computational biology skillset. O’Malley leaves Pitt with new friends, real-world research experience, and a desire to make a difference.
Before she crosses the graduation stage, O’Malley offers new students in the CoBB program one last piece of advice: “I think the greatest power is that if you don’t understand something right away, you’re there for a reason to learn it. I didn’t have a background in Python, and there were days when I felt overwhelmed. Whenever I felt frustrated, I gave it some time, and then I was able to come back and solve the problem.”