Award-winning Kloxin has great reasons to smile
April Kloxin is an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UD.
What's the story behind April Kloxin's beaming smile? There are great reasons both professionally and personally, as you'll find out in the following Q & A.
This past spring, the assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering won two of the most prestigious awards available to researchers in the early stages of their careers: a four-year, $500,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award, which supports integrated research and education projects by outstanding teacher-scholars; and a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences award, for which she will receive $240,000 in research funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Where's your hometown?
A.I grew up in a small farming community in North Carolina called Germanton (population ca. 827 in 2010), outside of the city of Winston-Salem.
Who got you hooked on science?
My mom and dad—we went to the public library a lot to attend science and nature demonstrations and to pick out books, some on designing science experiments to do at home as well as solving puzzles. Perhaps most importantly, my parents taught me to believe that I could become anything that I wanted career-wise as long as I was willing to work hard and apply myself.
What big scientific questions are you working to answer?
My group is focused on understanding how changes in the physical and chemical ‘inputs' to human cells influence how our bodies heal or how disease progresses. In particular, some of the big questions we are excited about and on which currently we are working include—what are the key ‘inputs' at different times for (1) regenerating tissue interfaces, such as those between bone and ligament for enhanced ACL [anterior cruciate ligament] repair, (2) controlling cancer dormancy to prevent recurrence, and (3) regulating an inappropriate wound healing response in the lungs toward preventing tissue stiffening and loss of function?
What's in your lab that you could not live without?
First and foremost, I could not live without the students working with me, as well as our collaborators. The students are fantastic and drive me to be a better scientist, mentor and teacher, and I am very fortunate to have been the recipient of outstanding mentoring throughout my career. The instrument I could not live without is a microscope. It is critical for understanding how cells respond to our materials and, more generally, seeing is believing (when paired with other quantitative data).
What's your best advice to students considering science careers?
Work hard, dream big, and do not give up. There is a lot to learn initially in science and engineering, which can be intimidating, but with this knowledge base, you truly can solve important problems and help others.
What's something most people don't know about you?
I enjoy the simple daily pleasures in life: cooking a meal with my family, going for a walk and having a nice glass of Scotch or red wine while watching Top Chef. Joyfully, I cannot do that last one these days though, as my husband and I currently are expecting our first child.