Ethan Yarberry, SB'23, serves as a perfect example of how focused passion and engaged mentorship can be the catalyst for a bright future in biological sciences. He is one of the University’s 2023 recipients of a Harper Award for Exceptional Performance in a Course.
Yarberry currently works with Assistant Professor Sampriti Mukherjee in her lab, investigating sensory regulation of bacteria behavior, where his work pre-graduation earned him the aforementioned recognition.
His early interest in the mechanics of bacterial communication was sparked when he worked in Bonnie Bassler’s Princeton University lab, studying Quorum Sensing, in high school. But he came to the University of Chicago unsure of how he could pursue that interest in his coursework or otherwise.
He then became acquainted with Mukherjee during her first year at the University. His interest in her work and excitement for microbial biochemistry quickly made him stand out among his peers, and landed him in her lab in the summer of 2021.
As Yarberry continued to show his prowess as a researcher, he impressed Mukherjee by mastering protein purification and other techniques related to biochemistry. He was then accepted into the highly selective BSCD Research Honors Thesis Program as a third-year student and would go on to pen a thesis defining the biochemical principles underlying target mRNA recognition by the RNA-binding protein CsrA from Bacillus subtilis. Yarberry's efforts in the Mukherjee lab earned him a spot as the second author on a manuscript that he is hoping to publish soon, and the Harper Award.
Yarberry credits his successes as a researcher to Mukherjee’s guidance in the laboratory. He encourages students to work earnestly in their foundational coursework, and to look to create relationships with PIs and graduate students in topic areas that interest them. Mukherjee praised his ability to “grasp the different scales of his project - and his confidence and courage to perform his work independently."
Currently taking a gap year, Yarberry is continuing his work with the Mukherjee lab while he is applying to graduate school.