Chris Towe

In a research lab, deep inside Baylor University . . . 
Postbaccalaureate student Chris Towe unloaded cow knees from a box that came fresh from the slaughterhouse. He twisted the bone, tore the tissue, pulled out the meniscus -- a cartilage disk that acts as a cushion between the ends of bones in a joint -- and placed the tissue in a machine for testing.

Towe spent his summer working with Carolyn Skurla, Baylor assistant professor of engineering, testing chemicals as part of a joint research project being conducted by Skurla and Bob Kane, assistant professor of chemistry. Their goal is to locate a chemical that will weld torn tissues in the meniscus, eliminating the need to remove it to alleviate the pain -- a treatment that works but that predisposes the patient to developing arthritis, Towe says. 
Towe, BS '02, was working on his engineering degree when Skurla informed him of the research and internship position. He plans to attend medical school and become a practicing physician. "I did this internship to see if maybe I'd like to focus on research instead of clinical practice or the other way around," he says. "There is an Albert Einstein poster in the lab that offers me words to live by -- 'If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research.'"