Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
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Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: 30 somethings
30 somethings
March 19, 2007
They’ve garnered terminal degrees, researched life-saving vaccines, been published in dozens of scholarly publications and performed on world-renowned stages. And they are only in their thirties. Meet a sampling of some of MBU’s brightest—and youngest—faculty members.
Read about other MBU faculty members in their 30’s:
Mr. Greg Farris, assistant professor of Health and Sport Science
Coordinator of Sports Medicine Program
Ms. Joy Powell, instructor of Theatre Arts
Dr. Keith Beutler, assistant professor of History
Lydia Thebeau, Assistant Professor of Biology
MBU: MBU’s biotechnology program, which began in 2006, is designed to serve those students interested in pursuing a career in research science or higher academic degrees. Students compete for employment in major pharmaceutical or industrial laboratories, governmental laboratories, or not-for-profit research institutions.
Education:
Post-doctoral Fellow at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University
Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology, St. Louis University, School of Medicine
B.A. in Biology, Hannibal-LaGrange College
Dr. Lydia Thebeau is a problem solver.
Lydia Thebeau
“I get a thrill out of putting together pieces of a puzzle,” Thebeau said. “Whether it’s developing a strategy to clone a gene or if it’s trying to understand a complex biological pathway, finding solutions to problems is exciting to me.”
Her driving passion for turning the seeming unexplainable into answers that have the potential to change the world may explain why at 33-years-old, Thebeau has already spent more than four years of her life researching ways to lessen the capability of the most infectious disease in the world.
Thebeau, now an assistant professor at MBU, spent much of her time in graduate school working inside a lab at St. Louis University Hospital that focused on cloning a gene into the Herpes Simplex Virus in an effort to reduce that virus’ impact.
“After four years of research, now I have more questions I want to answer,” said Thebeau, who began teaching at MBU last year. “Our lab is answering very important questions everyday. So the point is not only to solve a problem, but also to deepen the scientific understanding. Every question answered leads to another question.”
When she’s not teaching at MBU, tending to her two children, or running in the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon—she finished in four hours, fifty-one minutes and twenty-six seconds this past October—Thebeau is still pursuing her research to help reduce the impact of the Herpes Simplex virus, although in a diminished capacity.
“I love understanding how things work, specifically the human body—both at the organism and microscopic-cellular level,” she said. “To be able to assist students in research that has the power to change so many people’s lives is something that I find incredibly fulfilling.”
Today, she’s primarily focused on bringing her thirst for such groundbreaking research to MBU. The introduction of MBU’s new biotechnology program, a major that Thebeau helped design, is a good way to start, she believes.
Thebeau envisions MBU’s Natural Sciences Division as a learning environment that enables problem solvers like her the ability to answer vital questions through small-scale research projects.
“The biotechnology program is aimed at helping students learn about the fundamentals of how things within the cell work and, more importantly, how to manipulate those things within the lab,” she said. “Ultimately, the program’s goal is to help equip students with the tools needed to function independently in a lab.”
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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