Embracing the magic of science
This is one in a series of profiles showcasing some of Harvard’s stellar graduates. All her life, Jennifer Cloutier ’13 wanted to understand how things work. “When you’re a kid, basic mechanisms like household appliances can seem magical,” she said, explaining her fascination with science. “I wanted to understand and explain that magic.” Cloutier’s curiosity has long since evolved from kitchen items to stem cells. As an undergraduate researcher in Professor Konrad Hochedlinger’s lab with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, she takes adult skin cells from mice, infects them with viruses to express certain proteins, and then examines how those proteins prompt the cells to reprogram or dedifferentiate into stem cells. “I study why that happens, how we can improve the process, and how we can make it safer for any future therapeutics,” she said. Another person in Cloutier’s position might have taken a different approach to the question of why things happen. When...