“After teaching myself the English language and familiarizing myself with the culture of the United States, I began to contemplate my future goals. Intrigued by the ubiquity of medications in households and our reliance on them for pain relief and disease prevention, I developed a strong interest in the pharmaceutical field and the prospect of contributing to the development of new medications,” said Marian Khalil, a UC Irvine student pharmacist and June 2024 graduate of the BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences program who immigrated from Cairo, Egypt with her family ten years ago.
“One of the courses I took [in high school] was on pharmaceutical sciences, which explored the realities of working in a pharmacy, the applicable laws, and the fundamental principles of the field,” she shared. “Upon completing this course, I became convinced that a career in pharmaceutical sciences was my desired path.”
Khalil began her undergraduate studies at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA before transferring to UCI and enrolling in the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, where she joined the Albrecht Lab team. Led by Dr. Lauren Albrecht, researchers “uncover the role of methylation in signal transduction, cellular metabolism, and human disease.”
Alongside other UCI researchers, as well as researchers from UCLA and Yale, Khalil authored the study, “Methylarginine targeting chimeras for lysosomal degradation of intracellular proteins,” which was published in Nature Chemical Biology on October 16, 2024.
“Joining Dr. Albrecht’s lab fostered the growth of my passion for research, and the skills I acquired will be valuable throughout my career,” said Khalil, whose work as an undergraduate researcher earned her multiple honors, including a 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) fellowship and the 2022 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) Physiology and Pharmacology Presentation Award. She was also selected as a participant in the UCI Minority Science Program’s Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program and Bridges to Baccalaureate (B2B) Program.
“In my journey from arriving in the United States and pursuing a career in research and pharmacy, my family served as my primary source of strength and support,” she said. “My accomplishments can be attributed to their unwavering presence and assistance.”
