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Student Life
A matter of degrees
GRAD SCHOOL? LAW SCHOOL? HOW ABOUT BOTH?
Alex Galaitsis KNOWS JUST WHAT TO DO IF HE’S “HAD IT UP TO HERE” WITH FLASKS
FILLED WITH BACTERIA: PREPARE FOR MOOT COURT INSTEAD.
Alex Galaitsis is studying bacteria that turn sewage into biomass, which could be used to make
gasoline that’s easy on the environment.
A doctoral student in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology, and Genetics, Galaitsis is
also earning a law degree through the University’s Joint Degree Program in Law, Health,
and the Life Sciences. When he graduates, after seven years or so, he hopes to help lawmakers
address the interface of science and public policy.
“I’d like going into that kind
of environment where someone will ask . . . ‘What does the state of science say on this
issue?’” he says. “Having a law degree opens up a whole lot of new doors.”
The
joint degree program is built in layers like the meat and cheese in a submarine sandwich. Galaitsis,
who has a degree in biology, began with law school. He describes it as “kind of like jumping
into cold water.”
“There’s something so stressful about the first year,” he says. “It’s
probably good just to dunk yourself in, jump out and dry off, and move on.”
Except for
a seminar for joint degree students, his second year was that of a typical CBS graduate student.
This year he continued in the Ph.D. mode, but added moot court. It’s a challenging mix.
“I’ve
been doing biology for almost two years— then suddenly I have to write a legal brief using
proper citations,” he says. “It gets frustrating. But it’s kind of nice to
be thinking about both sides of the program.”
Galaitsis has been working with Distinguished McKnight University Professor Larry Wackett on
alternative fuels research funded by the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment
(IREE). The researchers are studying bacteria isolated from sewage sludge that turn biomass into
a waxy substance full of hydrocarbons. That substance has potential to be reshaped into the active
ingredients in gasoline. Because it’s made from new biomass and doesn’t contain sulfur,
it avoids the stigma that fossil fuels carry regarding contributing to global warming and acid
rain.
“Right now, basically we want to find the gene or genes that are responsible for this
totally new (at least in bacteria) metabolic pathway,” Galaitsis says. Once the researchers
do that, they or someone else could use that knowledge to develop bacterial “factories” that
eat plant materials and give off gasoline or diesel precursors.
Because this research is aimed
at finding environmentally sound substitutions for fossil fuels, it’s a good fit philosophically
for Galaitsis.
“My sense of wonder that I find in the universe and in life has always been something
thatcomes out of nature and the wilderness,” he says. “Doing something that can help
to keep that around a little longer—that’s definitely rewarding for me.”
-- MARY K. HOFF
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