Scientist Profile

Alan Herr, Ph.D.

From cows to plant viruses: Alan Herr's search for a good story

Alan Herr with his mentors: Drs. John Atkins (left) and Ray Gesteland (right)

For a man who just completed his Ph.D. research in RNA biochemistry, it might be a little surprising to learn that Alan Herr was "not even remotely" interested in the subject for most of his life. Instead, he raised cattle in junior high and high school and wanted to be a doctor when he grew up.

So how did he end up studying RNA? Well, "my first day of biology as a freshman I gave up the possibility of being a doctor for good." Alan's professor asked the class how many were planning to go to medical school. When three-fourths of the room raised their hands, Alan looked around and thought that they didn't all look like doctors, so he spent the next week deciding if he really looked like one. In the end, he decided that he didn't.

Medical ambitions aside, Alan's long-held interest in science kept him taking science classes. This interest developed early in his life - he began showing cattle in his early teens. Raising cattle gave him an opportunity to practice genetics on a large scale, though the results weren't always what he expected. "You think you can cross a lean cow with a fat one and get the perfect cow, but it doesn't work that way." Each summer from the seventh grade on was spent at the ranch, and he even read the journal published about his particular breed of cattle.

While growing up in Idaho, Alan also spent a lot of time exploring the outdoors and perfecting his fishing technique in the Payette River. His curiosity about the wildlife around him led him to pull on wader boots and comb the river for aquatic life for a high school science project.

Raising cattle and surveying a river aren't molecular biology, but they did teach Alan to ask questions about the world around him, which he thinks is important for any aspiring scientist. "Things that you find boring may indeed be dull, but don't automatically assume they are boring. It may be that you simply don't understand the details well enough to see how neat the question is. Learn to be a fair skeptic," he says.

For Alan, genetics and molecular biology are full of interesting questions. "It's such an incredible opportunity to work in a new field. How many people will be able to say when they die that they got to explore the unknown?" After completing his undergraduate degree at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, he came to the University of Utah for graduate studies.

For his Ph.D. research in the Department of Human Genetics, he chose to work with Drs. Ray Gesteland and John Atkins, who study the translation of RNA into proteins. Alan was intrigued by the molecular mechanism of translational bypassing, which happens when a cell's ribosomes deviate from the standard method of translating DNA and produce an unexpected protein. "I've always appreciated a good story," says Alan. He spent six years with this one, figuring out how and why the deviations happen.

Alan with his wife, Karen Herr

Now Alan is off to England to investigate viruses that affect plants, in hopes that his work will help minimize the use of chemical insecticides in agriculture. "What guides my decisions now is the desire to be of service to those around me. A rather substantial investment has been made towards my development as a scientist, and I would like to honor that with enthusiasm and creativity."

He still has a healthy dose of inquisitiveness, of course, to find good stories and figure them out. "I think you need curiosity in this business or you'll get stale. It's not just about knowing facts. Always be prepared to be surprised."

Funding for this feature was provided by The R. Harold Burton Foundation.

Author: Kristen Kamerath