Gabe Ozorowski started out at Santa Clara University thinking he wanted to become a doctor. But working in a lab at Santa Clara, he discovered how exciting research can be. Currently earning his Ph.D. in the biological sciences at UC Irvine, Ozorowski plans to work after graduation as a research scientist for a biotech company.

“Many students are drawn to the medical profession because it is the most visible growing up,” Ozorowski says. “The longer I worked in the lab, the more I realized that this might be the right career choice for me.”

At SCU, Ozorowski did research on cell repair. And today, he continues to expand medical understanding of diseases. For his doctoral dissertation, he’s using x-ray crystallography to analyze the structure of certain proteins.

“Many diseases are caused by the activity—or lack thereof—of proteins, so the structures can be used to design novel drugs,” he says.