Curiosity leads to virus study in Uganda

Years ago, missionaries serving in Africa sent a few random artifacts to relatives living in Villa Park and a curiosity was born.

Years later, one of those very relatives read a book that shaped what merely was a child's curiosity into a career decision.

Amy Brankin, 24, of Villa Park now is doing precisely what she set out to do a decade ago: she's studying viruses at a lab in the African country of Uganda.

Brankin was a freshman at Willowbrook High School when she read "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston, a science-heavy account of the rise and spread of the Ebola Virus, including an outbreak at an Army lab in a Washington, D.C., suburb.

A passion for science kept Brankin chewing through the book written for an audience years ahead of her. Preston's tome also fueled Brankin's decision to research viruses in Africa, a continent that's struggled with both deadly illness and widespread political unrest.

"I just knew I would go to Africa," Brankin said.

After graduating with honors from Willowbrook in 2001, Brankin received a bachelor's degree in biology from Loyola University Chicago and earned her master's degree in tropical medicine from Tulane University in New Orleans.

She currently is pursuing a Ph.D. in virology through The Johns Hopkins University, one of three institutions that operate the laboratory where she works.

The project Brankin works on launched in the 1980s, focusing exclusively on HIV research.

Since then, it's grown remarkably. The program now performs cultural studies and provides social services, such as a program to aid abused women and orphaned children.

Brankin and her colleagues research a wider variety of viruses and train Ugandan citizens to run a molecular research lab -- a key to the country's future health.

Having obviously found her passion, Brankin beams as she describes her work identifying different strains of HIV and researching the course and progression of the virus. Some of the research is advanced for a Ph.D. student, but it's well in line with what she hopes to do.

Brankin's research focuses on HIV-2, a strain of the virus that is present almost exclusively in African countries -- and about which little is known.

Her work could help to develop better diagnostic tests to detect HIV-2, which ultimately would lead to better treatment.

Current testing procedures lack accuracy because African labs use technology developed by Western cultures where the more common HIV-1 is prevalent and HIV-2 virtually is non-existent.

Brankin, who has been in Uganda since July, will return stateside to finish coursework this fall. She hopes for a career developing and leading research projects in the private sector, a career she knows will require occasional overseas travel.

Her work, Brankin says, has reshaped her world view. She stresses that ongoing research is vital to provide real help to the continent which, in some places, has been crippled by an HIV and AIDS epidemic.

"We develop drugs and send them over and think we're done," Brankin said. "We need to focus more on Third World countries."

Never underestimate what ambitions -- and accomplishments -- can spring from a little curiosity.