{"id":560,"date":"2020-10-13T20:10:10","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T20:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=560"},"modified":"2020-10-13T20:19:21","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T20:19:21","slug":"good-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/good-chemistry\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent EWU grad is poised to make his mark on biochemistry<\/span><\/h3>\n

By Leilah Langley<\/p>\n

J<\/span>ohn Vant \u201918 would be the first to admit that his decision to attend Eastern Washington University had little to do with academics. The Montana native, now 26, says he enrolled at Eastern mostly because the university\u2019s rec center had an ice rink.<\/span><\/p>\n

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John Vant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hockey helped Vant make new friends and immerse himself in the university community. But it didn\u2019t take long for the gifted undergraduate to be crossed-checked by a passion that transcended the puck: research in biochemistry. Now a standout doctoral student in biochemistry at Arizona State University\u2019s School of Molecular Sciences, Vant was recently awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship will allow him to continue working with some of the world\u2019s top biochemical experts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vant is no stranger to academic awards. At Eastern, he was the recipient of the Daniel and Margaret Carper Foundation Scholarship, a full-tuition award for his senior year. In part thanks to that financial assistance, Vant says, he was able to fully focus on his time with Eastern\u2019s faculty scientists, an experience that was invaluable to his progress as a young researcher. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that sets Eastern apart from other schools is its size and its focus on teaching students,\u201d says Vant. \u201cBy the time I left, I personally knew every single chemistry professor in the department. You wouldn\u2019t get that at a lot of big universities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Vant\u2019s research at ASU involves molecular dynamics, a method that involves using computers to simulate the motion of atoms in biological molecules, in Vant\u2019s case protein molecules. \u201cA lot of my science is focused on bio-energy,\u201d he says, \u201cbut it\u2019s not too much of a stretch for me to solve problems related to human health.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Human health is exactly what Vant has been up to this spring and summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, he\u2019s part of a team developing a model for disrupting the virus\u2019 \u201cenvelope protein,\u201d a molecular structure that is crucial in preserving its genetic material as it travels between hosts. By disrupting the envelope protein, the thinking goes, researchers could interrupt transmission.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Vant completes his doctoral and post-doctoral work, he says he aspires to work in one of the federally run national laboratories. No matter where his career takes him, Vant says, he will always appreciate the education he received at Eastern, and the scholarship donors whose generosity helped him to succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven now, when I\u2019m going through a rough time and things aren\u2019t working out, I can think back and remember that people believed in me,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent EWU grad is poised to make his mark on biochemistry By Leilah Langley John Vant \u201918 would be the first to admit that his decision to attend Eastern Washington University had little to do with academics. The Montana native, now 26, says he enrolled at Eastern mostly because the university\u2019s rec center had…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":564,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-560","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-alumni-profiles","stories_categories-research","stories_categories-science","stories_categories-sports","stories_tags-fall-winter-2020"],"acf":{"featured_video":"","subheading":"","display_byline":false,"display_date_published":false,"Links":false,"Resources":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":563,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/560\/revisions\/563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}