Shane Taylor, a PhD student in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program at the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, was in his first year at Hampton University in Virginia when the COVID-19 pandemic forced all his classes online. That’s when he first began to consider—and see for himself—the power of scientific research to save lives.
“There was a period of time during the pandemic when it felt like this was going to be the way things were, forever,” Taylor recalls. “We were always going to have to wear masks, and we were always going to have to be socially distant, because the information that we were getting at the time was that while we can control the coronavirus, it will always be a part of our lives, like the flu. It would come back every season. So that put a lot of fear in everyone.”
But the rapid-fire response of the scientific community to the dire public health threat also inspired Taylor to consider a career in immunology.
“The way immunologists advanced coronavirus research they had already been doing prior to the arrival of this strain, saving millions of lives within a year and a half—that truly inspired me. I wanted to be able to add to that effort,” he says.
Taylor attended a magnet school for biology in his hometown, Hyattsville, Md., and was also an intern at a Howard University lab, where he co-authored a paper with his mentor, Mark Burke, on the neurological effects of HIV in pediatric patients. At Hampton University, in Virginia, Taylor met Olúwatóyìn Ajíbọ́lá Aṣojò, who is now a professor of biochemistry and cell biology at the Geisel School of Medicine and associate director for inclusive excellence at the Dartmouth Cancer Center.
“Even before coming to Dartmouth, Professor Aṣojò took me under her wing,” says Taylor. “She literally grabbed my hand and brought me into her program, which was recruiting students who had an interest in research, providing funding, backed then by the NIH, enabling us to go to different institutions, do research, make connections, and move into the future.”
Aṣojò, who, aside from Hampton, has spent most of her career teaching in medical schools or working in the biotech industry, says Taylor has the mindset of a true scientist.
“I know he is going to accomplish great things because he believes in himself and in the ‘why’ of what he does,” she says. “For Shane, research is not just a nine-to-five job. He learns and learns, and grows and grows. It’s not a question whether he’s going to be impactful, it’s a question of what, when, and how much he will do.”
Taylor is already exploring a medical frontier as he helps to conduct cancer immunotherapy experiments under the supervision of Tyler Curiel, a hematologist and oncologist at Dartmouth Health and professor of medicine at Geisel, whose laboratory focuses on cancer immunotherapy.
“Our research seeks to harness the immune system and enhance its natural response to tumors,” says Taylor. “Unlike other approaches like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which have a broad and often harshly toxic effect on the whole human body, immunotherapy provides more targeted tumor treatment. My job specifically is to help discover new ways to add on to immune checkpoint blockade therapies, adding more drugs, or refining the drugs that are already on the market.”
Taylor says he appreciates the guidance and support he is receiving from both Curiel and Aṣojò, and is paying it forward. He says Ansley Booker, the Penny and Jim Coulter 1982 Executive Director of Dartmouth NEXT, has asked him to encourage other graduates from historically Black colleges and universities to further their studies at Dartmouth.
“She knew that, coming from an HBCU, I would have something to say about the transition from undergraduate to grad school in the Ivy League. It can be kind of jarring at times and a little bit scary. So I talk to them about the journey, the leap of faith that I had to make,” says Taylor.
Among those leaps: representing Guarini’s MCB Program at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists. Booker says Taylor sets a positive example for prospective graduate students, and helps them see their own potential.
“As a Hampton University alumnus and E.E. Just Liftoff Fellow, Shane exemplifies the essence of mentorship and connection for the NEXT generation of scholars,“ she says. ”He leverages his expertise and personal experience to help first-generation undergraduates and aspiring graduate students navigate the academic pipeline with ease, particularly with the Dartmouth NEXT and Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies Fly-In Program, featuring Howard University Karsh STEM scholars, and the IMPACT Post-Baccalaureate Programs at Dartmouth Cancer Center.”
Taylor is not sure exactly where his graduate degree will take him, but he knows he wants to be involved in immunology.
“I would love to continue to do drug development and testing, conducting clinical trials to further study refinement of cancer therapy,” he says. “I’d also like to do industry research in drug development. But I’m just starting my second year in what could be a six-year path of study, and I know that my interests could evolve.”
He’s no stranger to forks in the road. In high school, Taylor was not only a gifted scientist, he was a talented pianist and trumpeter. Faced with a choice between magnet schools for performing arts and science, he opted for the latter because, he says, STEM study could lead to a career, and music could still be a hobby.
In fact, he sees the two pursuits as symbiotic.
“I think that music can blossom the creativity that you bring into the lab,” he says. “One thing that is required of a scientist is the ability to riff. You’re presented with a problem and you try to think outside the box. Branching out and building a new experiment from something unconventional feels to me a little like jazz.”
And if improvisation in the lab saves lives, he’s all in.
“Because of research that immunologists have done over decades, we now have answers to very large health problems,” says Taylor. “That’s an amazing thing to contribute to, and it’s what has led me to where I am now.”
