Associate Professor of Biology Ángel Islas is working to better understand why some cells stay healthy and others don’t. His research starts at the very basic level: in a cell’s DNA, where damage to the fundamental nucleotide strands can lead to disease.

Professor Islas isolates certain enzymes, called DNA polymerases, to figure out how these molecules repair a broken DNA chain. Understanding how the polymerases restore a cell can help explain why some cells get sick. “We think the polymerases create band-aids,” Islas says. “They can rejoin the breakage on the fly.”

Professor Islas is director of the biotechnology program at Santa Clara University, and runs a research lab staffed by students and recent graduates. He says the students gain valuable experience in real-life science.

“In class, if you have a problem, you go to the professor. In the lab, you have to solve it yourself. You have to think critically. That’s the power of science; you gain the ability to reduce problems to their constituent parts,” Islas says.