The rockefeller university

by LESLIE CHURCH

Daniel Gilmer, a graduate fellow in Vincent A. Fischetti’s lab, has been awarded the 2012 David Rockefeller Fellowship, given each year to an outstanding third-year student for demonstrating exceptional promise in science and leadership.

A native of Central Florida, Mr. Gilmer is studying something that first sparked his curiosity as a child during a visit to the family doctor. “He told me that he had to prescribe different antibiotics to me when I got sick, because bacteria were becoming resistant to the antibiotics he had previously prescribed,” Mr. Gilmer says.

It stuck, and now, 20 years later, Mr. Gilmer is in the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology, investigating bacteriophage lysins, a new source of antimicrobials that could replace antibiotics.

“It is incredibly rewarding to address an issue that puzzled me as a child,” Mr. Gilmer says.

The phage lysins Mr. Gilmer studies target Streptococcus suis, a bacterium that mainly infects pigs, and can be passed to humans when they handle infected meat. The infection can lead to meningitis and other severe inflammatory responses in humans. Recently, Mr. Gilmer codiscovered a new phage lysin cloned from S. suis that proved to be active against several bacteria.

Mr. Gilmer says he was drawn to this research because of its translational nature — it provides a clear route to impact human health — and the ease with which he can explain it to a lay audience.

“I want my work to inspire science literacy and investigation among nonscientists. I have found that when nonscientists understand the idea behind my work, they inquire further. This increases their knowledge, and challenges me to think about my work from novel perspectives,” says Mr. Gilmer.
After graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Howard University in 2008, Mr. Gilmer began conducting research as a Postbaccalaureate Fellow at the National Cancer Institute of NIH, where he studied a cancer-related membrane transporter.

In fact, much of his research experience prior to joining Rockefeller in 2009 was related to cancer, but Mr. Gilmer had interests in other areas of biology as well. He was drawn to the university in part because of the freedom students have to explore multiple labs and find the right fit. He also could see that the university gave its students the resources they needed, academically and personally, to do their best work.

“I felt that Rockefeller would support me as a student to an extent unmatched by any other institution, and that has been the case. With my wife also in graduate school, and a one-year-old baby at the Child and Family Center, Rockefeller has enabled me to remain focused on my work.”
Mr. Gilmer still finds time to get away from the bench, though: he plays basketball with students at Weill Cornell and enjoys biking around the city, completing the Five Boro Bike Tour the last two years. He’s also an active mentor. Currently he oversees an undergraduate student from Washington University in Seattle and a local high school student through the university’s outreach programs, and is working with a friend in Boston to build a mentoring network for African-American undergraduates.

“It’s a pleasure to have Daniel in the lab,” says Dr. Fischetti. “He is a dedicated, hard-working young scientist, with a true feeling of responsibility to the community. He truly deserves this award.”