Rising Sparks: Nick Arp, metabolism

Building a bridge between basic science research and patient care

Nick Arp felt the calling to become a physician while still in high school in Eldridge, Iowa.

“I want to take care of people. I had experiences that led me into medical school through my life, like family members with chronic illnesses or battling cancer,” says Arp, an MD/PhD candidate working in Jing Fan‘s lab at the Morgridge Institute for Research.

But simply becoming a physician wasn’t enough for Arp. His passion for medicine led him into basic science research at tiny Wartburg College, a private liberal arts college, and eventually to a 10-week summer research program at MIT’s Whitehead Institute.

“I fell in love with basic research. But I never gave up the idea of wanting to be a physician, and my mentor told me I didn’t have to choose and there were programs where I could do both,” Arp says. “I loved the whole idea that I could bridge the scientific world with the clinical world, and with the proper training, I could be a messenger between those worlds.”

When his acceptance letter to the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s Medical Science Training Program arrived, Arp was thrilled. A first-generation college student, Arp reached the goal of studying to combine research and patient care.

“I showed my mom and said, ‘I’m going to be a physician-scientist.’ And my mom said, ‘But you’re still going to be a doctor, though?’ I told her not to worry,” he says.

Arp is in the sixth year of the rigorous eight-year program. He spent the first three years in med school, then embarked on a four-year doctoral path — a deep dive into metabolic science — and will return to med school to complete his final year.

The intensity of the program led Arp to take up running. From doing a mile on the treadmill, Arp entered a 10K race six months later. Since then, he has completed two marathons, four half-marathons, and competed in Madison’s Ironman 70.3 — a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike race, and 13.1-mile run.

“In my first year of PhD studies, I needed balance and something to get me out of the lab,” he says. “It was all motivated by finding something that was not in the lab or the med school to fill my bucket. My training helped me manage my work in the lab, too.”

The Fan Lab researches the metabolic underpinnings of cell function, particularly in innate immune cells. Arp is investigating macrophages, the body’s first line of defense in pathogen-killing, and are key element in wound healing and repair and inflammation.

The lab studies the flexible metabolic pathways in macrophages, and how altering metabolism orchestrates immune function and inflammatory state.

Arp says Fan has been an incredibly supportive mentor, suggesting approaches that would best benefit his medical career as a pulmonologist and intensive care unit physician. “Morgridge’s whole ‘Fearless Science’ approach allowed her to sit down and figure out what it is I wanted to do and how she could help,” he said.

“It’s important to chase questions that are going to be close to patient care,” Arp adds. “I still participate in patient care that informs my research question here at Morgridge. The knowledge you gain in medical school has given me a toolbox to contribute to a conversation or point out alternatives that someone who’s very deep in a scientific area might not think about.”

Rising Sparks: Nick Arp, metabolism

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