Isabelle (Issy ) Tobey (she/her)
Self-Bio: After Hampshire, I worked as a lab technician for 2 years at the Broad Institute in Ben Deverman’s lab. The Deverman lab focused on engineering viral vectors that could be used for delivery of genes to the central nervous system. I recently left the Deverman lab to pursue a PhD in cancer biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Year of div 3: 2018
Name of div: Molecular Biology of Cancer
Summary of your div 3: My DIIIV focused on the protein CD147, a protein on the surface of cells that helps break down the extracellular matrix thereby allowing cells to migrate around the body. I specifically looked at CD147 in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and how over expression of certain ER proteins can degrade CD147 prior to it reaching the cell surface. This is valuable because CD147 is over expressed on metastatic cancer cells and degrading it prior to reach the cell surface could keep cancer cells more localized. Fun fact: CD147 is getting more attention now because it is one of the proteins that covid19 binds.
Hampshire influence: My DIIIV was super useful because it taught me a lot of foundational lab skills. I have called on those skills daily for the past 3 years. Additionally, not many undergrads get to do independent lab work so I leveraged my project to help me get my job at a prestigious lab post-graduation and again to get into graduate school.
What place on campus was significant to you?: The biology lab was probably the most significant spot on campus to me. I spent 3.5 years in there doing lab work at all hours of the day pretty much every day of the week. By the time I graduated, I think I knew where everything in the whole was and I could have navigated it with my eyes closed
Describe the on-campus place as you remember it.: They remodeled it after my first year. So every year after there were 4 (5?) long metal benches with a black granite type top to them. They all had Bunsen burners and a set of pipettes. While I was there, I kept my favorite pipettes on my bench. From my bench to the left was the hallway and the professor’s offices, to the right was a long wall with huge windows. There was the fridges and freezer. Then a bunch of benches with lab equipment. There were always plants growing in the window. Behind me was 2-open so it was often really loud in the lab during the day. And in front of me was the supply room and the tissue culture/microscope room. On the evenings/weekends I would leave the lights off so it was darker and very quiet.
What place off-campus was significant to you?: I player roller derby with Pioneer Valley Roller Derby in Florence. Our practice space, called the bunker, was the most significant off-campus location for me. Going to derby meant I took a break from science and school in general. I got to talk to non-college students which provided excellent perspective. Also a lot of the players were Hampshire alums so they could help me navigate Hampshire.
Describe the off-campus place as you remember it. : The bunker was a huge warehouse that looked absolutely run-down and abandoned from the outside. Inside it was always the wrong temperature (too hot in the summer and absolutely freezing in the winter). It had a bring pink door a huge garage-style doors next to that that we would open in the summer to try and get some breeze. The majority of the space was taken up by a large derby track (flat though, not banked like in the 60s). On the left under a wall of windows were 6 huge murals painted on the wall, one for each of the teams. On the right was the “locker room” really just a hallway with cubbies and a large plywood viewing platform where the announcer would stand. At one end of the track were a bunch of mismatched seats for audience members to sit. The main thing I remember about the bunker are all the people I would get to see there. They filled it with so much love.
Dear me… or you, I guess.
Today is your first day at Hampshire! I know you’re worrying about what it’s going to be like and if you’re going to fit in. Starting a new school is scary, terrifying. God, we should know, we’ve done it enough. But, I promise, starting at Hampshire won’t be scary for long. Once you get over your new school nerves, it will feel like coming home. Like Hampshire is an integral piece of you.
You have done so much to get here, to this little dorm room in this weird school in Massachusetts. This is you tenth school in nearly as many years. And I know you’re tired of being the new kid. And you feel like people have already found their place, especially because you can hear people laughing in the gazebo down below. But trust me, this time it’s different. This time everyone is new and searching for friends. And those people you hear in the courtyard are just the kids smoking. And you don’t want to hang out with them anyway (because then you’d be stuck smoking in the middle of winter and that would be miserable). In fact, you’re ahead of the curve. You’ve been the new kid a million times. You’ll find some friends to survive the first few weeks. And then, when you settle in, you’ll find your real people. And, I’ve got to tell you kid, your real people are pretty incredible. They’re gonna be with you for a long, long time.
So here you are, exhausted from a long flight across the country, not knowing anyone in this state, about to start your first day of school tomorrow. All I can say is, you’re going to be amazing.
Just kidding. I have so much more to tell you. Honestly, would it be us if we were brief?
Hampshire feels a lot like the Open School (like I said, you’re coming home). It’s very much a find-your-own-path, make-your-own-way kind of school. And, at this point, you know you thrive when you can just chase your bliss. You’re going to be assigned an advisor to help guide you through this process. She’s awful. She doesn’t know Hampshire at all and you two will be diametrically opposed on basically all topics. But that’s ok. You’ll switch advisors soon.
In a week, you’ll start roller derby, and you’ll know immediately those are your people. A lot of them went to Hampshire and they’ll help you find your way. They’ll tell you exactly how you can switch advisors and help you navigate the secret parts of Hampshire that aren’t immediately broadcast. Honestly, the Hampshire alums at derby will help you over and over again during your 4 years. They’ll understand the confusion of your first year. The anxiety of your second of third. The overwhelming stress of your final year. If you fall off the map for a few weeks during your DIV III, don’t worry. They’ll be looking out for you. Your friends at derby will help show you there is a world beyond Hampshire’s campus and a life after college. You’ll learn don’t have to be a grownup ever, if you don’t want to. Honestly, everyday I’m still learning that lesson. So, treasure your derby friends. They’re going to be your rock while you find your people on campus. And they’re going to be your rock even after you’ve found your people.
Your first year will be hectic. You’ll make friends, lose them, and make better friends. Fall behind and catch up. Fall apart and rebuild yourself. Get sick. Get drunk. Get lost.
You’ll get buried in homework, in relationships, in snow…. No for real it’s gonna snow 3 feet this winter. Get better snow boots.
Right now, you’re pretty sure you want to be a doctor. That will change. Not as soon as you step into lab but shortly thereafter. You’ll realize you love Cole Science Center. You love lab work. You love taking care of cells. Growing up DNA. Quantifying, imaging, analyzing. It’ll make your heart sing. I hope it never stops making your heart sing. You’re going to take one class, Methods in Molecular Biology, and it will set your soul alight. It’s going to change your whole future. My whole present is what it is because of this class. Without this class, we’d probably have applied to medical school instead of graduate school. We’d be god knowns where in the US instead of in our cute apartment in Tucson. We may not have worked at the Broad for 2 years, learning how to be faster and more confident in lab. We could still stand to be more confident because, after 3.5 years in lab at Hampshire and 2 years at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (that’s right, bask in the fancy name. Revel in the pretentiousness), we know our shit. And we need to get better at letting people know that we know our shit. But that’s a problem for future me (or current me, I suppose).
For now, just rest easy knowing that you’re where you’re meant to be. You’ll have infinite time to explore the Hampshire woods and find your place in lab. You’re about to embark on a wonderful adventure for the next 4 years. It will be stressful and hard. But also, overwhelmingly rewarding and wonderful. Soak up every scrap of information you can because it will all be valuable. Work hard, have fun, take care of yourself, and, above all, welcome home.
All my love and adoration,
Issy from 2020
What We Remember 