THOMASVILLE — Education + determination + a love for chemistry is Chris Hopkins’ equation for an exciting future.

Hopkins, a University of Georgia student from Thomasville, is just a few months away receiving a Ph.D in biochemistry and molecular biology.

“I always knew I wanted to do something related to science,” said Hopkins, a 2000 Thomas County Central High School graduate.

Hopkins wasn’t sure of his specific field until after he received his bachelor’s degree. He opted to use his talents to discover renewable energy sources.

“We’re doing research to enable renewable energy to become a reality instead of something people talk about all the time,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins’ focus is on hydrogen.

“Hydrogen isn’t a source of energy (like fossil fuels), so you have to have something to make it from,” he explained. “I work with a protein that forms that reaction. It takes two protons and two electrons, and puts them together to form hydrogen.

“Even though this enzyme has been around since the early 1900s and there has been more than a century of research on it, there still isn’t a lot known.”

Hopkins recently gave a speech to college students about making hydrogen from Georgia plant sources.

“We want to try to research this enzyme and take it out of its natural environment where it is basically doing what an organism needs hydrogen for and reprogram it, alter it or engineer it so we can trick it to do what we want it to do,” he said. “Hopefully, the long-term goal, if everybody puts their pieces and parts together, is to have an organism that you could go out to the desert and have huge farms of algae that take the sun’s energy and have hydrogen coming out the other end and use it to fill our cars or energy for our houses.”

Hopkins and three other University of Georgia students recently applied for a patent on their work. Thanks in part to funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, the university is a major player in the development of renewable energy sources.

“It’s a two- or three-year process (to get a patent),” Hopkins said. “We’ve talked about forming our own biochemical company. That will be really attractive after graduation.”

Hopkins said the patent, if it is approved, won’t make him rich.

“It sounds really neat, but the university owns 90 percent of it,” he said. “That means I’m 25 percent of 10 percent that would come off of this.”

Before striking out on his own after obtaining his Ph.D next spring, Hopkins intends to spend a few months in the university lab continuing his research in the protein-related sciences. He hopes his work might change the world one day.

“I’ll spend half of my time as an employee (of the university) and the other half to start my own company,” he said.

Hopkins, the son of Robert and Kay Hopkins, is grateful for the opportunity that lies ahead of him. He credits his teachers in the Thomas County School System, especially Ralph Fudge.

“I called (Fudge) and thanked him after my freshman year of college because I never had to go to class. I just showed up for the tests and still make an A,” Hopkins said. “I had a good grade point average and earned this HOPE scholarship. My teachers inspired me and helped me get to where I am today.”