Science and Dance

An Interview of SyBBURE Alumni Danielle Liu

Written by Kevin Liu

It all started when…

I met Danielle when I was but a freshman, one who had nervously joined a Vanderbilt ballet company in the hopes of finding a gymnastics analogue (since there wasn’t a dedicated club at the university). Although I was nervous about getting in the way and not knowing any of the other dancers, Danielle was the first to reach out and make me feel comfortable- messaging me on groupme asking if I could teach her aerial cartwheels. In that moment, I felt an unexpected -yet welcome- reassurance in knowing that I had made a friend.

It was also Danielle that told me about SyBBURE and encouraged me to apply- talking to me about the program during one of our breaks during dance practice. She told me about how SyBBURE was composed of unique individuals united by their passion for research, encouraged creativity and interdisciplinary learning in science, and provided a wealth of resources and mentoring through team leaders that genuinely wanted to see each student succeed. Danielle herself has served as one of these mentor figures throughout the years, helping younger students navigate Vanderbilt, lab culture and etiquette, and life in general. Despite being incredibly experienced and accomplished herself, she has always remained approachable and helpful to each subsequent generation of new students.

Danielle’s research during her undergraduate career is also impressive- developing endosome based siRNA drug delivery vehicles to treat autoimmune disorders in the Duvall lab. Although her love for discovery and research led her to believe that graduate school would be the best option, she realized that she wouldn’t feel entirely fulfilled unless she could directly work with the people that her work would be impacting. As a result, she decided that an MD/PhD program was the best path for her and would allow her to fulfill both passions. Danielle is now in Vanderbilt’s MSTP program.

While her experiences in dance and career aspirations in medicine and science may seem irreconcilable, Danielle maintains that they are the same at their cores. Both science and dance require that one step out into the unknown and create something out of nothingness- whether it be in the darkness of a dimly lit stage or through the identification of an uncharacterized disease. Furthermore, both require grit- hours of conditioning, rehearsal, and soreness; troubleshooting, literature searching, and false leads. Although her journey has been full of challenges and obstacles, Danielle believes that she -and everyone- can overcome them through hard work, perseverance, and support. She cites SyBBURE as one of the core components that has allowed her to make it through, both for its richness in research mentorship and strength of community.

Danielle is many things- a dancer, scientist, aspiring physician, and advocate. She is persistent, hardworking, curious, and empathetic. Uniting all of these identifiers is a love for people that shines through everything she does- whether it be through patient interactions in the clinic, mentoring new SyBBUREites in a subgroup, or making a nervous little freshman feel at ease in her dance company through a simple GroupMe message. We at SyBBURE are all so proud of her and can’t wait to see how she will change the world!

About the author

At the time of writing, Kevin Liu is an active student member of the SyBBURE community. He is in his final semester and plans to graduate in May 2022 with primary majors in Biochemistry and Chemical Biology, secondary majors in Spanish and Portuguese, and a minor in Art. His research in Professor Michael King’s laboratory is titled, “Evaluating the Effects of Fluid Shear Stress on Colorectal Cancer Cells.”