Biochemistry molecular biology major
Graduate student, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
Current projects
I am a third-year Ph.D. student in the molecular microbiology and microbial pathogenesis program. I am working on characterizing the novel polyomavirus WU, which was discovered in our lab a couple of years ago, in an effort to determine whether it is a human pathogen.
Undergraduate Research
I spent a couple of semesters and a summer working with Dr. Andrea Duina characterizing the Spt6 and Pob3 nucleosome interactions in yeast. Along with a couple of other ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø students, we published a paper in 2009, "Uncoupling of the patterns of chromatin association of different transcription elongation factors by a histone H3 mutant in yeast."
How ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø prepared me for success
I was actually more prepared than many of my graduate school classmates because of both the quality of my ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø classes and the availability of my professors to mentor and teach me outside of class. My research experience with Dr. Duina was instrumental in helping me decide to pursue a Ph.D. and gave me the basic set of research skills I needed to begin graduate school.
Future plans
Because of my wonderful experience at ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø, I am planning to finish my training and pursue a career as a professor at a liberal arts school. At ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø, I found I loved both teaching and research, so this seems like a perfect fit to me.
My advice
Take advantage of all that ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø has to offer. Participate in as many classes and activities as you can, because you never know what you will enjoy and what might become a lifelong interest.