Published on June 20, 2023
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While Lara Stefani had never toured the University of Missouri before making the decision to become a Tiger, she was very familiar with what the campus had to offer. A graduate of the Dual Diploma Program offered through the Mizzou Academy, Stefani earned diplomas from the Mizzou High School and Colégio Dante Alighieri in São Paulo, Brazil, where she grew up.
Along with that familiarity, Stefani said the opportunity to conduct in-depth research helped make the decision to travel more than 5,000 miles to continue her education a bit easier. After just a year in Columbia, Mo., she has built an impressive research portfolio, and a recent scholarship will allow her to further those efforts even more. Stefani was one of several MU students to be named a Cherng Summer Scholar.
“Being named a scholar was extremely amazing,” said Stefani, a biochemistry major who will begin her sophomore year at MU this fall. “Funding for the summer had its challenges, so earning this scholarship was huge for me. This is the first real step toward the career that I want to pursue. It’s a lot of responsibility, but there is also so much enchantment that comes with this opportunity.”
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A full-time, nine-week summer research or creative scholarship program for Honors College students, the Cherng Summer Scholars program is supported by a gift from Peggy and Andrew Cherng and the Panda Charitable Foundation. Recipients receive a $7,000 award and access to a $1,000 project expense account.
Stefani was in the eighth grade when she began a project that jumpstarted a research journey that is still just getting started. That work, which focused on asthma, continued throughout her high school career. As someone with asthma, Stefani quickly learned that she enjoyed offering possible solutions for others while being able to connect with her work on a personal level.
“I have always had a desire to help others, and science was something I gravitated toward since I was young,” Stefani said. “As I got deeper into my work, I realized that I could help others through my interest in science and research. I truly discovered myself during that first project.”
When Stefani made the decision to attend Mizzou, she knew research was going to play an important role in her collegiate experience. She reached out about potential opportunities before even stepping foot on campus, eventually finding a place in the laboratory of Lloyd Sumner, a professor of biochemistry.
“Once I joined Dr. Sumner’s lab and started training, I was immediately fascinated,” Stefani said. “There are so many interesting projects taking place, and it has been exciting to be part of the experience. It’s crazy, honestly. It doesn’t even feel real at times.”
Stefani also joined the Freshmen Research in Plants (FRIPS) Program during her first semester. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), FRIPS is designed to showcase the vital and exciting research being done with plants and encourage students to consider a research career in plant biology.
“This was the type of opportunity that caught my attention when I was looking at Mizzou for college,” Stefani said. “I wanted the chance to explore my options; that was a really important factor for me. I knew the biochemistry degree program would provide that, and it’s been really exciting to see everything else I can get involved in.”
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Stefani will be working with elderberry this summer as she looks to see if the berry could be used as a treatment or management tool for polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition in which the ovaries produce an abnormal amount of hormones, configuring an imbalance that leads to a variety of symptoms. Stefani said polycystic ovary syndrome manifests differently from individual to individual.
“Dr. Sumner has been encouraging the use of elderberry into research projects, as he is part of a major NIFA-funded Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant focused on elderberry,” Stefani said. “As I started reading the literature related to elderberry, I found that there are so many applications, and I was excited to incorporate it into my individual project.”
Stefani will test different doses of extracts from elderberry tissues, from both the berry and the flower. She will conduct those tests in different concentrates to study how cell viability changes in her treatments. Stefani will then apply those elderberry extracts to see how the ovary cells absorb the different compounds from the tissues.
“Like with my first project, I developed this research idea because of my desire to help others,” Stefani said. “If I can make a difference, even in a small way, that would mean the world to me.
“I’m very happy and thankful for this opportunity. As a Cherng Summer Scholar, I’m going to be able to study new things and make this project my own. I’m working with so many great people and I’m learning more about a subject I’m already passionate about.”