Study of chlorinated lipids could lead to better sepsis treatment

After a young friend died of cancer, Daniel Pike’s interest in science developed into a path focused on both treating disease and studying it.

Daniel Pike is doing research with rats to learn how chlorinated lipids might predict and mediate the severity of sepsis.

“Before he died, he talked about how he wanted his doctors to do whatever they wanted to, because what they learned would help the kids that came after him,” Pike said. “That really resonated with me and ultimately inspired me to pursue a career in biomedical research.”

As an undergraduate at Saint Louis University, Pike enjoyed biology and chemistry, he said, “with an emphasis on applications in medicine.” After earning a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, he applied to M.D./Ph.D. programs and began his studies at the SLU School of Medicine. He spent two years in medical school and then started working in David Ford’s lab in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology.

Pike was attracted by Ford’s “good track record as a mentor, the focus on lipids and the translational aspect of the research that could be applied to a health problem.” His goal is to work in an academic hospital integrating medicine and research.

“Daniel is a bright, hard-working student,” Ford said, “and his basic science research efforts in the field of sepsis and lipid biochemistry may lead to better treatments for this ever-growing public health problem.”

One initial sticking point for Pike was working with animals, in particular with rats.

“I was never particularly nervous around handling them or anything,” he said. “It was more the practical aspects … I had never worked with animals before, so I had to learn a bunch of new techniques and figure out how to get them to work in our model.”

Outside of the lab, Pike enjoys cycling and playing trumpet in the pep band for the SLU basketball team. “This is actually my ninth year doing it,” he said, “so I’ve sort of become an old vet of the trumpet section.”