Jessica Colon–Franco didn’t speak English well when she came to Rochester, Minn., in 2003. She was selected to participate in Mayo Graduate School’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), a ten-week, research skill-building program. She had studied English in Puerto Rico, but this was her first immersion experience — far from family with her future in the balance.

Colon-Franco arrived at Mayo armed with the wisdom of several generations of women who taught her that struggle can motivate rather than hinder success. Participating in the fellowship allowed Colon–Franco to visualize herself in the world of biomedical research. Today she is a cancer biology student in Mayo Graduate School’s Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program.

Colon-Franco’s interest in research began when she was an undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico, at Mayagüez. Although she declared her major in computer engineering, she quickly realized that this practical career move would not nourish her soul.

With her radar on high, she investigated other degree programs and came across a professor who changed her life — Alejandro Ruiz Acevedo, Ph.D., creator of the industrial biotechnology program at the University of Puerto Rico. He told Colon–Franco that how you choose a career is as important as how you choose a spouse … you should be vigilant about what comes with the package; discern what you can or cannot live with. She decided to switch to industrial biotechnology because it would allow her to combine scientific research with some of the engineering concepts she had learned.

Colon–Franco says SURF was pivotal to her later success. "When you start out, you are a follower. They help you … you learn how to analyze and interpret data. They take you by the hand and help you trouble shoot. SURF provides a kind of mentoring through the scientific process."

That preparation sent her back to Puerto Rico with a 20/20 vision of the profession she could not see before.

Mayo Graduate School’s SURF program matriculates 90 to 100 undergraduates from around the United States each summer. Students work beside scientists on a broad range of biomedical research questions, conducting small research projects on their own and developing technical skills.

Colon–Franco’s current Ph.D. research is focused on identifying the plot line behind Formin–like 1 (FMNL1), an actin–nucleating protein. She likens research to writing a story. "You create a narrative by drawing a beautiful story that describes your research — the hypothesis driven by a question that you want to confirm with your data."

What happens when a beautiful story doesn’t reveal itself in anticipated ways?

"If you can’t recreate the experiment or confirm the results, your storyline changes. It might include different characters, different sets of questions." So, you persevere and come up with new hypotheses and new questions that might get you closer to a "correct" story, she explains. Colon–Franco’s latest literary pursuit is reading Don Quixote — a fitting parallel for someone who is in constant search of truth.

—Kelly DeBrine, November 2008