By Darla Martin Tucker

When Kevin De Leon graduated from Loma Linda Academy in 2004 he entered the University of California, Riverside seeking experiences outside of the somewhat protected world in which he had grown up.

While he discovered a strong academic environment at the public university, and received an invitation to tryout for its Division One Highlanders baseball team, “there wasn’t much outside of that,” he said. “I’m an Adventist. I felt my spiritual needs were not fulfilled at UCR.”

After his freshman year, he enrolled at La Sierra University as a biochemistry major and entered the pre-medical and honors programs. At La Sierra he found the balance he was seeking between spiritual, social and academic spheres, he said. His professors proved caring and supportive, smaller classes made him feel less like a number and he enjoyed being able to discuss spiritual matters. “You can tell the professors are there to help you. They’re there for a reason,” De Leon said.

The die-hard Los Angeles Dodgers fan and former high school baseball MVP also served as captain of the La Sierra University Golden Eagles from 2006-2008.

Most significantly, De Leon encountered unexpected, broad views on science at La Sierra. After a year of studying science from a strictly atheistic and evolutionary perspective at UC Riverside, De Leon wanted to pursue the topic from the other side of the argument. “I thought I would hear the opposite at La Sierra,” he said.

“[But] I was exposed to view points I had no idea existed,” De Leon said. “[La Sierra’s professors] were really fair in evaluating both sides and they didn’t try to hide things from you.”

De Leon graduated cum laude from La Sierra University on June 15 with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. He begins medical school at Loma Linda University on August 8. He is contemplating a career in orthopedic surgery and is also interested in neurosurgery. “I still feel like a student at La Sierra, really,” he said in a July 28 interview at the Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine at Loma Linda University. His father, Marino De Leon, is the center’s director and a neurophysiologist.

Throughout his varied academic experiences, De Leon learned that while science is based on objectivity, much subjective opinion exists.

“…sometimes conclusions are made that do not lie within the scope of science. Conclusions such as “there is no God” cannot be proven through science,” said the young biochemist and medical researcher. “Similarly, I do not feel the existence of a God can be proven through science.  The complexities of science, however, have made me realize that there is a vast amount of knowledge that science knows nothing about.”

His year at UC Riverside provided De Leon not only new experiences but also an unexpected intellectual and spiritual adventure. While there, he was “shocked and confused” to learn how prestigious scientists viewed the world and to discover the pervasiveness of atheistic beliefs, he said.

“Growing up Seventh-day Adventist, I thought everybody believed in a six-day creation, or at the very least in a God,” De Leon said. “While evolution and atheism were briefly touched upon by my high school teachers, I did not realize the magnitude of those beliefs.”

“Creationism was viewed as naive and non-scientific by almost all my professors at UCR. Creationism was all I knew so to hear how “non-scientific” it was really shocked me. [I] was at UCR when I began doing my own research on religion and science.  It truly widened my perspective and solidified many of my religious beliefs,” he said.

De Leon is spending the summer working with a research team in his father’s lab. The scientific sleuths are studying ways of decreasing the severity of spinal cord injuries with doscosahaexonic, or DHA, a type of omega 3 fatty acid found in fish oils. They are trying to find ways of rescuing neurons that might have died. Secondary injuries can occur minutes to weeks after an initial spinal cord injury, providing a window of time in which doctors may work to minimize damage.

The team is also analyzing ways of pinpointing the degree of spinal cord injuries, potentially allowing doctors to customize treatment regimens. Presently doctors can only surmise the level of injury based on the patient’s functionality, De Leon said.

De Leon’s tasks include using a $350,000, 6410 Triple Quad LC/MS Agilent Technologies mass spectrometer to quantify the amount of ceramide in cerebral spinal fluid, spinal cord tissue and PC-12 cells, which are pre-cursors of neurons. Quantifying ceramide may help determine the level of spinal cord damage.

Ceramide is a lipid and DHA is a fatty acid. Fats are subgroups of lipids. Scientists have shown that ceramide is over-expressed in cells that undergo apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death. De Leon is studying whether ceramide increases are directly linked to cell death.

The lab anticipated receiving a batch of live rats on July 31. The research team will use the animals to evaluate whether integrating DHA protects nerve cells after spinal cord injuries, thus improving mobility. The lab is also looking for strategies of cloning stem cells and transplanting them into the animals to aid spinal cord injuries by growing healthy neurons, said Dr. Johnny Figueroa, a postdoctoral fellow on the team.

“The research in this lab is some of the most interesting,” De Leon said. He remembered the days when he resisted participating in the lab’s projects. “It’s my Dad’s lab,” he said with a shrug and a grin. “But I finally gave in. …And I’m loving it. It’s very exciting data.”

In retrospect, De Leon greatly values the lessons learned throughout his varied academic experiences. “The shock I underwent at UCR inspired me to do my own investigation on God and science and truly strengthened my spiritual relationship along with my understanding of science. [Had I] gone directly to an Adventist institution, I may not have been so motivated,” he said.  “I would do it over exactly the same way.”

PR Contact: Larry Becker
Executive Director of University Relations
La Sierra University
Riverside, California
951.785.2460 (voice)