Editor’s note: The Daily’s editorial department acknowledges that this article is premised on a conflict of interest. This article is a special feature for Commencement 2026 that does not represent the Daily’s standard journalistic practices.
Shoshana Daly’s legacy at the Daily is substantial: unleashing the untapped potential of the Science section.
Daly is graduating this spring with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. She served as the executive science editor for the Daily in fall 2025 and spring 2026.
Daly first became involved with the Daily in the spring of her junior year, crediting Carmen Smoak (LA’25), the previous executive science editor, for getting her to start writing. With only a few articles under her belt, Daly dove headfirst into the role of executive editor the following semester, leveraging her enthusiasm and ideas to grow the small section.
“I’m never in a shortage of ideas, but I needed people,” she said.
Having served as executive editor for two semesters, Daly reflected on the importance of science journalism, remarking that the section is multipurposed. As a news publication, Daly said the Daily seeks to uplift scientific research being conducted by any and all members of the Tufts community.
She also believes that journalism equips writers with the skills needed to communicate science effectively, which are translatable in a variety of STEM careers, including academia, medicine and public health.
“Wherever I go, science communication will be part of that, because I think that’s just inherent in being a good researcher or a good clinician,” she said.
Daly is also graduating as a Laidlaw Scholar, part of a prestigious 18-month program that aims to develop leadership skills in undergraduate students. Through lab work here at Tufts and a service project abroad in Malawi, Africa, Daly was able to bridge her interests in research and medicine.
“You need the people side in the research, and you need the research in the people side,” Daly said. She went on to reflect on how her experience with Laidlaw solidified her interest in pursuing a joint MD/Ph.D. program after graduation, for which she will be applying in this cycle.
In her first summer with the program, Daly conducted biological research in the Hengel Lab at Tufts. Her plan for that summer was to purify two proteins — replication protein A and alternative replication protein A — and study their function and interactions within the cell. Her senior thesis evolved from this original plan, growing to include how these proteins interact with three additional proteins.
The proteins she’s currently investigating are involved in template DNA repair, which is induced to repair double-stranded breaks in DNA. Some of these proteins also interact with proteins involved in reproductive cancer progression, such as the RPA complex.
Through understanding their mechanisms and interactions, Daly hopes that these proteins can be used in future research as biomarkers or therapeutic targets to differentiate between cancerous and healthy cells, thus opening up opportunities in the development of cancer treatments.
In her second summer as a Laidlaw Scholar, Daly spent time volunteering in Malawi. She collaborated with local physicians to implement tuberculosis case detection programs.
Daly worked with the community sputum collection points program, which brings tuberculosis testing and resources to patients in rural areas. The idea of the program is twofold: proximity and active diagnosis in a historically underserved area.
The program had existed previously but died down. Daly was part of the team that worked to relaunch it.
In addition to reviving existing infrastructure, Daly helped design a mixed-methods study to improve the efficacy of these systems. One of the changes made was the addition of a “scorecard” that the program can use to monitor local health or issues with sites through input from community health workers.
Daly’s favorite article she’s written for the Daily was about Dr. George Limwado, a physician she met during her summer in Neno District, Malawi. The article discusses trends of antimicrobial resistance in the region and the future research directions Limwado and his colleagues are pursuing.
All of Daly’s ambitions — from traditional wet-lab research to outcome-driven health surveys — coalesce around her focus on making science and medicine accessible. On the medicine side, she maintains that it’s important to listen to patients and ensure that they’re getting the treatments they deserve. In the laboratory, she believes research should be informed by the cumulative clinical needs of the population.
“Why would you trust science and medicine if you don’t understand it?” She commented about the importance of science communication.
When asked if she had any advice for underclassmen, Daly recommended attending talks or events in areas that interest them. She said she first met Dr. Sarah Hengel at an event for prospective Ph.D. students, a connection which eventually landed Daly a research position in Hengel’s lab.
She mentioned that it’s also beneficial to attend talks outside of one’s areas of interest, opening up possibilities for interdisciplinarity and inspiration in future projects.
“That’s how you come into opportunities, that’s how you meet people, that’s how you come up with ideas for what you want to be researching,” Daly said.
On top of her already packed schedule, Daly was a four-year member of the Tufts women’s club ultimate frisbee team.
“I think it’s so important to have things that are not stepping stones … to get to somewhere else,” she said. For Daly, frisbee is something she can use to destress and incorporate movement into her day, remaining separate from the demands of schoolwork and research.
Additionally, from living in The Bayit, Tufts’ Jewish Affinity House, to attending meals at Chabad, Daly said she found a home within the Jewish community on campus.
From community health research in Africa to action-packed Ultimate matches, Shoshana Daly has made the most of her four years at Tufts. While her career is still unfolding, she knows for certain that these experiences will lay a strong foundation for her future.
