Steeped in Science Despite recent successes, accolades and international headlines the research generated, the two 30-year-old women on the team are nonplussed. The headlines, they shrug, are only useful if “they show the drive in research and that all of this is to help people; there is nothing more rewarding than helping people and making their worlds better.” Mumaw, who runs 30-40 miles weekly, lives on a farm in Watkinsville, Ga. While continuing her post-doctoral work, she began veterinary studies this past August. She is training for a half marathon. She tackles running like she tackles a research project: spirited, disciplined and devoted to the work. When she runs, she averages eight miles. Mumaw’s grandfather was a doctor at Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan and her grandmother a nurse. “My mother taught science. She showed me the effects of acid rain. One of my favorite experiments with her was looking at planarians, the flat worms that are in water. If you cut them in half they regenerate. We added different compounds into their water, to see how it helped their healing.” It was not long before Mumaw realized she was born to be a scientist. She has two UGA degrees, and is pursuing a third. In the course of the fracture putty experimentations, she discovered she also wants to perform the veterinary surgeries she observed. Jordan, her colleague and friend, is a research coordinator in Stice’s lab. She has a great deal in common with Mumaw. They are the same age. Both adore animals, and Jordan has adopted five cats from research projects. Both had scientists in the family. Early on, Jordan too knew she would pursue science and follow in the footsteps of her mother, Sandi Tittle. Jordan recalls coming to campus with Tittle. “She graduated in the early ‘80s with her BS and then came back later for her Pharm D (doctorate in Pharmacy) and graduated
in 2006." But waiting for her mother to finish her labs didn’t bore her—it fascinated her. Her father became an inspector for the State Department of Natural Resources. With obvious pride, Jordan acknowledges that academic achievement was a family value. “I had a great interest in science growing up,” she observes. Today, Jordan has two UGA degrees, a BS in Biology and an MS in Pharmacology.
The Long Road from Research to Clinical Trials The surgical process of testing the putty was performed twice in 2012. The UGA research team’s “Tried and True Recipe” is one that produces a stable system. This high-tech “recipe” in the developmental stage is expensive, time intensive, and physically exhausting, but it is an exhilarating culmination of the team’s knowledge and abilities. They will refine steps to make the putty economically feasible as they resolve kinks. Harvesting the sheep cells and preparing the cell culture vital to the experimentations is the recipe the team references. In this case, the two women researchers use some of the nomenclature of a kitchen. In the days leading up to the surgery, they will have performed the work of “plating and transducing” the cells two days prior. “There are probably
For all of the recent successes and headlines the research generated, with headlines encircling the globe this past winter, Mumaw and Jordan are cautionary. The headlines, they shrug, are only useful if “they show the drive in research and that all of this is to help people; there is nothing more rewarding than helping people and making their worlds better.” Jennifer Mumaw, shown at left, with Erin Jordan. UGA Graduate School Magazine w i n t e r 2 013
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