Why St. Viator grad who hated science now loves science

Tim Lazicki was a freshman without a clue when he started at Dominican University four years ago.

If anything, the Wheeling resident assumed, he'd steer clear of science.

He had always avoided it, taking the absolute minimum number of required science classes at St. Viator High School. He wasn't great at it, scoring lowest on the science section of the ACT college entrance exam.

Bottom line, he loathed it.

So Tim, now 22, recognizes the irony in becoming one of the first — and according to his former professors, one of the most promising — neuroscience majors the River Forest university has graduated.

“It's always nice when I get these gems,” said former Alexian Brothers Center for Brain Research Executive Director Jeffrey Lewine, who oversaw Tim's work in a highly selective research program. “He was an undergrad, and yet as good as any postdoctoral fellow I ever had.”

Tim knew he'd made the right career decision last year as he stood alongside his top-prize undergraduate poster at the Society for Neuroscience Chicago chapter's 2010 annual meeting, where he mingled with some of the brightest minds the fields of medicine and neuroscience have to offer.

He discussed his extensive research on head trauma, and how his conclusions could one day give patients peace of mind knowing the injury may account for some pretty abnormal behavior down the line.

It was part of an independent project Tim and a post-doctorate student embarked on after they were selected from a pool of 30 Chicago-area applicants to do research at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village.

Using cutting-edge brain imaging technology known as magnetoencephalography, or MEG, Tim studied the effects of mild to moderate head trauma.

Under Lewine's guidance, he and his lab partner worked with a massive liquid helium tank filled with magnetic sensors — a device Tim likens to a big hair dryer — locked in an aluminum room with speakers, a camera, projector and semi-comfortable chair on the outside to conduct experiments.

Tim found MEG could nearly perfectly predict post-concussion symptoms. That could prove a major breakthrough since right now it's common for head trauma patients to display symptoms months later despite clean neuropsychological exams and traditional MRI and CT scans.

“Imagine a year later and you're very irritable and no one understands why,” Tim said. “Now we can say you're still recovering.”

Though he sees himself getting back in the lab one day to continue his groundbreaking research on traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia and other disorders, Tim's next step is a bit unorthodox.

Instead of going the Ph.D. route in neuroscience, which is kind of a coupling of biology and chemistry, Tim will attend medical school at Midwestern University in Downers Grove come fall. To be the best scientist he can be, Tim first wants to make sure he sees patients as people and not as numbers or their diseases.

“I want to be on the front lines of the war on illness, but at the same time I feel the need to become effective in treating patients,” he said. “It's going to be hard work, but the value of hard work was instilled in me from a very young age.”

Tim's interest in a possible major in Dominican's new neuroscience program was piqued by one of those intro-to-psychology classes most freshmen take.

It got him thinking about growing up with a grandmother who'd long suffered from bipolar disorder, and lingering questions about how her brain worked differently from others. He wanted to know why her 24-hour manic cleaning sessions gave way to stretches of deep depression.

The new classes sparked a passion in him he'd never known.

“I brought home my first straight-A report card,” Tim said. “My mom always knew I could do it; she just wondered why it couldn't be sooner.”

Assistant psychology professor Robert Calin-Jageman said Tim has made the most of his opportunities.

“Tim has exemplified the Dominican spirit,” he said. “He has applied the knowledge and skills he gained in the classroom to conduct original research that can have a real and positive impact on the world.”

A political junkie who jumps at any chance to mentor youths, Tim also served as Student Government Association president before graduating in May.

A ton of study still needs to be done before Tim's findings would ever be integrated into everyday health care practice, but knowing he might leave a mark is a notion that stops him in his tracks.

“It's such a weird thing because I had never even heard the word ‘neuroscience' in high school,” Tim said. “But I've been so inspired by it, and now my purpose is to find the truth.”

Tim Lazicki

<b>Age:</b> 22

<b>Hometown:</b> Wheeling

<b>School:</b> St. Viator High School, Dominican University

<b>Who inspires you?</b> On a personal level, my family inspires me; on a scientific level I'm inspired by Isaac Newton.

<b>What's on your iPod?</b> Songs from basically every genre. My favorite artist is Frank Sinatra, however.

<b>What book are you reading?</b> “The Godfather”

<b>The three words that best describe you?</b> I find it hard to describe myself, so I'll default to my mom's three words that describe me: Determined, happy, honest.