Ever since Amanda Raley Lowery (‘02) has been old enough to think about careers, her goal has been the same.

“From day one, I’ve wanted to do cancer research,” she said. Lowery remained fixed on her goal from the early days at UT Martin through her doctorate earned at Rice University in Houston, Texas. “I grew up in Memphis. St. Jude was always there, but I’ve never known anyone who was a patient there,” said Lowery, adding that there was no “life event” that drew her to the field.
And, even though her parents are very pleased about her achievements, she admits “they’re a little baffled” about her career choice. “They’re both teachers. Her father teaches television production and her mother is a curriculum coordinator for Memphis City Schools. “They just don’t know where this bio-interest came from.”

As the first UT Martin engineering student to earn a Ph.D., Lowery became a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University in July 2007, fulfilling that interest and realizing her dream.

Lowery began at UT Martin as a biology major. “The most exciting research was going on in bioengineering, and in order to get into a bioengineering graduate program, I needed to have an engineering degree. It could have been chemical, mechanical or electrical. I chose mechanical to get that degree.”

A University Scholar and Goldwater Scholar while at UT Martin, she graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in general engineering with an emphasis in mechanical.

She began a doctoral research position in August 2002 in Rice University Department of Bioengineering and received her doctorate in May 2007.

“I think I received a really good education here,” she said of UT Martin returning as a keynote speaker for the Department of Engineering annual banquet. “I felt very prepared in the engineering aspect. Since I went from mechanical to bio-medical, I didn’t have the biology background that I probably should have, but that was my fault. The classes were here. I just didn’t take advantage of them.”

In the end, however, Lowery got her wish. She is in a lab conducting research. “I am currently working on a gene therapy project for targeted delivery of genes to cancer cells,” she said. “The idea in that project is that cancer cells are cancerous because they’re lacking the ability to behave normally. There is a problem in the DNA that makes the cells cancerous. With gene therapy, you deliver the gene (the DNA sequence) that restores them to their normal behavior. We use cancer targeting peptides so we only deliver the genes to the cancer cells, not all cells.”
On a typical day, Lowery feeds cells she has growing in cultures and removes the waste products. Then she sets up experiments. “Generally, my experiments consist of making nanoparticles, putting the nanoparticles on the cells and observing the effects,” she said.
She also reads a number of scientific journal articles trying to figure out what the scientific community already knows and “what the next step is that we need to be taking.”

Lowery works in a lab with two other researchers. “We have different particles, and we look at different cancers, but we use the same scientific tools to evaluate very different events. There are a lot of days that you think ‘my experiment is never going to work; why am I even bothering?’ But, when it works, it is exciting because you really feel as though what you’re doing is making a difference. You don’t feel like you are doing research just for the sake of research.” And there are those “exciting moments.” In her presentation at the UT Martin engineering banquet, she showed data from some of the graduate work at Rice. “I showed one picture at the very end where I have a cancer cell sitting next to a normal cell – literally micrometers from each other – and I have successfully killed the cancer cell, and the healthy cell is still living. That was pretty wild!”

“When you realize an experiment works, you’re pretty happy,” she said. “You’re in a dark room with a microscope. A lot of times, you want to run and find anybody you can and say, ‘you’ve got to see this.’”

Lowery has always had good feedback at all stages. “Jennifer West (Isabel C. Cameron Professor of Bioengineering) was my thesis adviser at Rice, and she’s been wonderful. She’s very highly ranked in the field and always has great ambitions for her students.” At Vanderbilt, I work under Todd Giorgio (chair of biomedical engineering), and he’s also a great mentor.”
Jennifer was always very good at helping me figure out where I should take my project. She was always prepared with suggestions on how to proceed. Todd has more of a global approach saying, ‘Here’s your project, and that’s going great, but what else could you be doing, what other projects should you be thinking about?’”

Lowery continues considering her career options. “I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. I go back and forth – sometimes I think I want to go into industry and do pharmaceutical research. And then other times, I think I’d rather be a faculty member and run my own lab and have students.” She added, “I’m sitting right now at a juncture, so within the next two years, I think, I will make a move.”

While she ponders her future, she has some advice for UT Martin students. “Do what you want to do. Don’t get a degree and go do something just because your mom and dad think it’s the right choice. And, you don’t have to stick to traditional fields. Just because you’ve gotten a degree in one thing doesn’t mean you have to do that for the rest of your life.”
Lowery also touts the importance of getting research experience as an undergrad.

So Lowery spends her days pursuing a lifelong passion in cancer research in a very structured environment, but she enjoys leisure time spent with her husband, Walter, a Ridgely native and a UT Martin alumnus. The couple has settled into life in Nashville with their basset hound, Kirby. And, somewhere between work and family life, Lowery pursues another longtime interest, one she began while at UT Martin.

“I cross-stitch. I’m a little old lady. I like making baby blankets,” she said. “You don’t have to think about anything. There’s already a pattern. You just follow it. If it says ‘use red,’ I’m, like, OK, red it is.”

Lowery hopes to continue finding answers in her research each day she goes to work.
“Nanobiotechnology, the intersection of engineering, biology, chemistry and physics, is changing the face of medicine,” she said. “This generation of scientists must journey leaps and bounds, across many disciplines to gain the knowledge needed for these new nanoscale science applications. The interactions of scientists from different fields are enabling the emergence of new devices, new technologies and new medicines that will impact everyone.”