A’Lester Allen: From creating peptides to creative science

Why is the water green?

Peering through his grandmother's living room window, 9-year-old A'Lester Allen noticed the backyard pond was uncharacteristically verdant. Thus arose his favorite three-letter question.

"My dad called me 'professor' as a kid," he said of his childhood in rural Alabama, where he could explore pine forests and spot a variety of animals. "But what else could I do but go outside, look at the bees and flowers and ask questions about all of it?"

Allen is now a fourth-year postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois Chicago Retzky College of Pharmacy, and his queries have evolved. This year, Allen became the first UIC postdoc to receive the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface, which he'll use to continue his work on how the biomolecules in our bodies may help fight cancer.

After cracking the pondwater case with a teacher's help, Allen was hooked on science. In high school, he interned in a University of Alabama chemistry laboratory funded by the National Science Foundation's Materials Research Science and Engineering program. Allen earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Stanford University, his master's degree in materials engineering from San José State University and his PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

A medicinal chemist in the making

Allen entered UIC in spring 2022 as an Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awardspostdoctoral researcher. Funded by the National Institutes of Health to "develop a diverse group of highly trained scientists to address the nation's biomedical research needs," the program ran at UIC from 2020 to 2025.

Allen's focus shifted to medicinal chemistry: turning natural processes and materials into medicines and therapies.

"Medicinal chemistry bridges the gap between fundamental science and societal needs, where I can impact my community positively," he said.

Specifically, Allen hopes to develop new medicines from proteins, the molecules in our bodies that carry out most tasks needed to sustain life. He compares proteins to a freight train pulling more than 100 amino acid cars.

"In some forms of breast cancer, even a single mutation, or broken-down train car, can cause treatments to fail and the cancer to return," Allen said.

Allen is designing mini proteins called peptides that can work around mutations and stop cancer from returning. He's working with Terry Moore, UIC associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences.

'Wellcome' to the club

In fall 2024, Allen applied for the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards at the Scientific Interface. The Burroughs Wellcome Fund supports biomedical researchers to "improve human health through education and powering discovery in frontiers of greatest need." This prestigious award gives early-career scientists $560,000 over five years to kickstart their research programs and transition into faculty roles.

"These brilliant researchers are tackling some of the most complex questions in science by combining disciplines in bold, innovative ways," said Tammy Collins, program officer for the Career Awards at the Scientific Interface, in an article announcing this year's 10 recipients.

Allen's project is an extension of his peptide research. Despite peptides being 10 to 100 times smaller than proteins, researchers use the same method to study both: light-up dyes attached to the biomolecules like fluorescent balloons. But while proteins are robust enough to bear the dyes' weight, the tinier peptides are not.

"Peptides are like ballerinas performing a delicate dance in the dark. Heavy fluorescent tags are like weights strapped to their limbs, forcing them to move awkwardly and masking their elegance," Allen said.

Instead, he proposes something lighter.

"My work develops lightweight probes that illuminate these dancers, allowing them to move freely and naturally while we observe every graceful step. In doing so, we can finally see the true choreography of peptides without disrupting their performance," he said.

Allen said studying peptides and their movement can help researchers develop better therapeutics for treatment-resistant bacterial infections, cancer and other diseases.

Creativity through science

When Allen's postdoctoral research appointment concludes, he hopes to live up to his childhood aspiration - and his dad's nickname - and become a professor.

"Receiving the Burroughs Wellcome Fund grant is making it possible for me to achieve this dream I've had since I was a kid," he said. "My goal is a lifelong career dedicated to education and tackling health issues."

Allen also hopes to pay homage to the creative scientific programming that inspired him as a kid: PBS Kids shows like "Zoom," "The Magic School Bus" and "Arthur." He said he'd even like to contribute with his own science-themed children's book.

"There are many things around the world that are beautiful," he said, "and science allows us to deepen our appreciation of them through understanding. I want as many people as possible to experience that."