An opportunity to work in toxicology and further her work in botanical-drug interactions, HCOP graduate student Destini Thornton spent the summer completing an internship with Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Boston, Massachusetts.
Takeda is a global biopharmaceutical company that pursues research in various therapeutic areas like oncology, rare diseases, neuroscience, and gastroenterology. Takeda’s internships are committed to enhancing student career paths through building leadership skills and developing their connections, giving interns meaningful, hands-on work that involve research and operational activities to prepare students in the field.
For Thornton, she was drawn to the internship because of Takeda’s research profile, including work in cytotoxic evaluations, cell-culture-based assays and basic molecular biology techniques, all of which her own research consisted of.
“I saw that Takeda had an Investigative Toxicology position that required the applicant to have experience that aligned with my current research. Specifically, the position required cell culturing experience, cell-culture-based assays, cytotoxic evaluations, and other basic molecular biology techniques,” said Thornton, “These are all techniques that I am proficient in because my research focuses on various botanical-drug interactions on the cellular and molecular level.”
Thornton received her bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Columbus State in 2022, and has since worked in the lab of Dr. Angela Calderón while pursuing her Ph.D. at HCOP in the medicinal chemistry option. Having so much research experience, she was interested in seeing what the experience was like in the industry.
“Industry research is very different from academic research, and I am excited to experience the pace and approach of industry research,” said Thornton. “I am also looking to gain professional development experience, as well as this is my first time working in a professional scientific environment that may require different protocols than what I currently have for my research.”
With the internship at Takeda, Thornton wanted to bring the experience back to Auburn and also serve as a leader and mentor for the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists.
“My career goals are to become a well-rounded researcher with various experiences and knowledge that I could use to teach and mentor the next generation of scientists either academically or in an industrial setting,” said Thornton. “I feel that my personal and professional experiences can always be applied to challenging future endeavors so I am excited to approach this new chapter at Takeda.”