Fermin Ruybal

Hello, my name is Fermin Ruybal. I am a Senior majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. I enjoy freestyle skiing, exploring new places and cultures, competing in Greek community events, taking on leadership positions and mentoring my family within my fraternity, trying new activities, volunteering for philanthropy events, attending local entrepreneurship/new venture events, getting involved in research on campus, and shadowing medical professionals.

As an undergraduate student, I have had the opportunity to complete the CU Anschutz Mini Med II program; shadow Chief of sports medicine and shoulder surgery, Dr. Eric McCarty, at CU Orthopedics Boulder; shadow ER Doctor, Justin Cahill M.D., at Bridgeport Hospital; and do original research in the Klymkowsky Lab on campus on CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis of two genes in Xenopus laevis (African Clawed Frog). I presented my research at the CU Course-based Undergraduate Research Symposium, and was awarded with the CU Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Grant to continue and expand upon my research over the 2017 summer under the mentorship of Dr. Bilge Birsoy and Dr. Michael Klymkowsky. During the same summer, I shadowed Dr. Steven G. Ojemann, neurosurgeon at the University of Colorado Hospital, gaining invaluable exposure to current, high-level neurosurgery.

I am currently studying the expression of Decorin, one of the genes I studied in Xenopus laevis, with Dr. Pamela Harvey in the lab course, the Python Project, to gain further insight on the function of this gene in model organisms as well as contribute to the Leinwand Lab's research examining the molecular mechanisms of organ growth in the Burmese python.

This May, I will be volunteering in Nicaragua with CU Global Brigades to give medical assistance and implement sustainable health systems for an underdeveloped community, and I plan on completing a clinical shadowing fellowship in Europe through the Atlantis international fellowship program later in the summer.

As I approach my graduation, I am putting together my plans to take the MCAT and apply to graduate degree programs to continue my education with medical school, and potentially enroll in an MD-PhD program. I am also taking courses to complete the Business Minor through the CU Leeds School of Business to give me insight and skills that could help me bring some of my current invention ideas to life as well as assist me with my goal of developing innovations in the medical and biological research fields in my future career.