Name: Miguel Castillo
Hometown: Quito, Ecuador
Major: Microbiology and immunology
Minor: Chemistry
Meet senior Miguel Castillo. He’s a microbiology and immunology major with a minor in chemistry. Not only is he incredibly proficient in TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy), but he plays soccer, skateboards and he’s a vegan! He is also a member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity on campus.
So you’re from Ecuador, what do you miss most about it?
“In comparison to Florida, specifically, I’d say the mountains because it’s very flat here. I remember the first time I came to Florida, I realized I could draw the landscape with a pencil. That was something I was never use to. It was just one flat line I could draw on a piece of paper and I could show you the topography of the place. But, in Ecuador, there’s like…I was just constantly like surrounded by valleys and mountains and things with elevation and slants and I guess I miss that scenery.”
Tell me about your senior project?
“So, my senior project is a collaborative work between the viral oncology lab run by Dr. Messri Ph. D. /M.D. who works in the Pap Building second floor. His lab deals with viruses that cause cancer and everything in relation with that. So there’s HPV, HIV, and there’s HHV8 which is KSHV. That’s the one I’m working on. It causes Kaposi’s sarcoma which mostly affects AIDs victims or anyone immuno-deficient in general. And, in the Cox basement, there’s the electron Microscopy lab run by Professor Jeffery Prince. I use the TEM, transmission electron microscope, to take images of the virus infecting cells.”
From our conversation earlier today, making your parents proud was very important to you. Is the reason you chose your project because you feel as someone who immigrated here, you have to make your parents proud by doing something extremely big like curing a strain of cancer?
“Yeah. I am ambitious as I possibly can be. I was given the opportunity to look at anything I wanted and I saw this which is stretching the limits of the scope. We’re talking about 120 nanometers across and I am trying to characterize the infectious system of something that small. That should be around the upper limits of what I am able to do. I regularly have to take 70K images. So, what is the biggest thing I could do? In a sense, it’s trying to study one of the smallest things possible and one of the hardest things to pinpoint. Why try to make the most out of my project? Because I could have made it easy. I could have had this done a lot quicker. I could have just done the characterization of the virus and been done with it. But, I chose to inquire further because I saw interesting things. The professors, they deserve to have as much be done with the time they have given me. So it’s not just my parents, it’s everyone involved. Everyone’s work should be as absolutely extravagant as it can.”
What’s been the most difficult aspect of the project?
“Sensitivity of the samples. At the end of the day, it’s like I have only eight samples and really I only have two of four groups. That means I can fit my entire project’s core material into the palm of my hand. So yeah, it’s the sensitivity of all the material.”
Have you found anything promising?
“Yeah, two big things. It’s possible that the antibiotic and the kidney cell damage are linked. Second would be the possibility for a cancer vaccine.”
You’re the Sargent at Arms for Alpha Sigma Phi, why did you decide to rush?
“A lot of people on my floor were all joining this fraternity and the R.A. was a member at the time. It was a very big year for the fraternity in general. I saw it was going to be a very big new member class and that intrigued me and I liked the values of the fraternity. I still think we have the best brotherhood on campus but every fraternity will tell you that. But, it’s a whole different thing when you feel it. When I came here my first semester I felt very lonely. So, like, everything was like new, new, new but I started slowly feeling more and more at home when I was around Alpha Sig. And, so, like joining just felt like coming home.”
Do you think your college experience has been enhanced by joining Greek Life?
“Absolutely.”
Why do you say that?
“Because I wouldn’t have as much stuff to do. I mean, like, this is important. Having responsibilities, believe it or not, isn’t just, “Oh this is work.” It actually helps organize your life. Our motto is “To Better the Man” and I feel I like became a bettered man.”
What’s the worse/most embarrassing burnout you’ve had on your skateboard?
“So, I am known for skateboarding a lot. I have a nickel-style penny board. In this case, near Panhellenic, near the fountain, there’s a ramp. I went down it. It’s very fast. I had just gotten a soda, I believe, from one of the vending machines. I go down. I make a turn. There’s a small puddle. I lose all friction in one of my wheels. The whole board falls out from underneath me but because I have the soda in my one hand and my backpack kind of awkwardly slumped on my other hand I fall at like a 30 or 45 degree angle face-first into bricks and, get this, two different sororities were leaving chapter at the moment and saw me. And, the future president of my fraternity was behind me. And, I had just fractured my orbital bone as a result of this fall.”