Senior Named Gates Scholar

Senior Lily DeBell has been named to the 2024 class of Gates Cambridge Scholars at the University of Cambridge. The Gates Cambridge Scholarship program, established in 2000 through a donation to Cambridge University from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, recognizes young people from around the world who not only excel academically but display a commitment to social issues and bettering the world.

After graduating from Caltech this spring with her BS in biology, DeBell will complete an MPhil in biological science at Cambridge, where she will study how certain proteins guide the deadenylation of messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Deadenylation is a process in which a particular part of an RNA, called its poly(A) tail, is cut off in order to degrade it and stop gene expression. Through the process, cells can rapidly shift their gene expression.

"This project will promote advances in medicine and human health by establishing a basis for future research on new tools to manage gene expression during disease," DeBell says. "I am pleased to be part of the Gates Cambridge program and look forward to working alongside students performing cutting-edge research to improve the human condition."

At Caltech, DeBell conducts research in the laboratory of Bil Clemons, Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial Professor of Biochemistry, where she analyzes membrane protein evolution. Membrane proteins have promising potential as drug targets because therapeutics directed to these proteins do not need to permeate the cell to exert an effect on cellular processes. 

In addition to her research, DeBell, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, serves as a peer academic coach in chemistry and biology, volunteers with the RISE tutoring program, and sings in the Caltech Glee Club.