I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. My alma mater is Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana where I earned a BS in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry Molecular Biology with Honors with a concentration in nanomaterials and micro electrical mechanical systems. After that I attended graduate school at University of Cincinnati where I completed a Masters in Biomedical Engineering. My areas of research were therapeutic ultrasound, contrast agents, liquid breathing and stroke with Dr. Kevin Haworth. After my masters I worked for Epic Systems in Verona, Wisconsin on the EpicCare Ambulatory application. During my three years at Epic I was involved in the development of the User Action Log, the Provider Efficiency Profile, and was the senior developer of Signal, an application which benchmarks different physicians, specialties, and hospitals against similar types of groups at other hospitals. I currently work with Dr. Timothy Huerta in the CATALYST center at OSUWMC, the Ohio Equity Institute, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and on projects like the Data Core. My research interests are in data science, implementation science, database architecture, electronic medical record use, and patient engagement.

I was born and raised in Bexley, Ohio, located in the Columbus area. I attended the University of Cincinnati, where I studied Biology and earned my Bachelor of Science degree in May 2015. After graduation, I worked for the Department of Surgery at The Ohio State University for Dr. Chanden Sen as a surgical scientist for two years and was involved in several stroke related projects. This experience has motivated me to pursue a career in research. I am particularly interested in cardiovascular research pertaining to atrial fibrillation and myocardial infarction.

I was born and raised in the Columbus area and went to THE Ohio State University for undergrad, graduating in 2021. Throughout undergrad I was a research intern at The Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital which revealed my passion for genetics research of pediatric diseases. After graduating, I moved labs within NCH and worked for a year in the Center for Gene Therapy where I gained experience and new perspectives on the field of rare diseases and the development of treatments for them. I am hoping to pursue a career in pediatric rare disease research, and am excited to see how my time in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program helps get me there.

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. I went out west to Los Angeles, where I completed my Bachelor of Science at Harvey Mudd College in 2018. During my undergraduate studies, I completed my senior research thesis in Dr. Daniel Stoebel's lab studying the stress response in related strains of enteric bacteria. I took two gap years after graduating to pursue an opportunity in industry research at a start up company, A2 Biotherapeutics. There, I gained experience innovating and engineering adoptive cell therapies in the CAR-T and TCR-T cell space. I am beyond excited to deepen my knowledge of immunology at the Ohio State. As an MSTP student, I aspire to pursue research questions that reveal pathways and mechanisms that can be harnessed for the benefit of human health and push forward our understanding of the immune system.

I was born in New Taipei City, Taiwan. I graduated from National Taiwan university with a degree in microbiology and immunology. During my time at NTU, I worked in a lab focusing on immunotherapy and gene therapy. Under the guidance of Dr. Mou, my two major projects during my master’s degree, one focusing on protein engineering through directed evolution in vivo improving the protein activity within a short evolution time and taking into clinical application effectively. The other one is bacteria-based immunotherapy which takes advantage of tumor targeting and serves as vectors driving the drugs to the tumor microenvironment specifically. Through these two projects I learned, my interests and competence are related to the cancer research and immunology area. I am excited to pursue my PhD in Ohio State University’s Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. Understanding the need for cancer research, I look forward to training with its outstanding faculty and contributing to microbiology and immunity.

I was born and raised in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. I graduated from the School of Medicine (MD/MS) at Zhengzhou University in 2016 with a research focus on cancer immunology in the laboratory of Dr. Yi Zhang. Specifically, I studied cancer-associated fibroblasts and their contribution to building an immunosuppressive microenvironment in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Since 2016, I have been working in Dr. Zihai Li’s laboratory as a graduate student with the ultimate goals of 1) developing and characterizing an antibody for targeting TGF pathways in the tumor microenvironment and 2) investigating the role of ER stress in T cell biology. This training will allow me to improve my technical and intellectual skills as a biomedical researcher, which is critical for me to achieve my future career goal as a physician scientist. I am confident that OSU will provide an outstanding environment and I am excited to carry out the next phase of my journey here.

I am from Jinan, China. I studied computer science at the City University of Hong Kong. In July 2020, I graduated with the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree of First-Class Honors. I joined the Biomedical Science Graduate Program in May of 2021. Currently, I work in Dr. Kin Fai Au’s lab. We are focusing on developing computational and statistical methods for analyzing biological data. To be more specific, our lab members are handling third-generation transcriptome and epigenetics sequencing data, which can contribute to the study of breast cancer and stem cell. For my research interests, I am interested in creating easy-to-use software to accelerate bioinformatics analysis and developing efficient computational methods to discovering novel biological findings from highly complex biological data.

I was born in Zhanjiang, a coastal city located at the southernmost part of China. After high school, I attended Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China for my bachelor’s degree in biotechnology. During my time in SYSU, I started doing research in Dr. Yikang Rong’s lab. There, I investigated the functional importance of the conservative sequences of HP1-HOAP-interacting protein (HipHop), which is a subunit of the drosophila telomere capping complex. My lab experience and passion in cancer research motivated me to continue my study in cancer research. I am honored to join Dr. Jing Wang’s lab and focus my research on understanding the mechanism and enhancing the efficacy of 5-FU treatment in colon cancer.

I made up my mind to keep studying biology after participating in the 2017 and 2018 International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM). The giant jamboree held in Boston is a great carnival for all the students and scientists working in synthetic biology. Though it is a really new area, the combination of engineering and biology provides numerous solutions towards different fields of the society and human lives, such as environment, energy and medication. The project of team TU Delft has left me with great impression this year, who provided a great solution of genetic doping. It made me feel excited to see researchers could put theories into practice and solve real problems. Though I believe synthetic biology provides a prospective, natural and efficient answer to these problems, the new area needs a boost. I wish to make contributions to the development of synthetic biology and reveal the mechanism of how our body works together. The four years of study brings me the fundamental knowledge of biology. Now I hope to become a specialist from my graduate study and learn how to become a scientist.

I'm from China. I came to the US in 2019 and attended the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. I will graduate in May 2021 with my MS program in the college of public health. During these two years, I am a member of Dr. Lang Li's lab in the college of medicine. Our research focuses on extracting phenotypes of diseases or adverse drug events from medical-related literature with natural language processing algorithms. The main purpose of our study is to build a comprehensive corpus that includes diseases/adverse drug events and corresponding phenotypes. My personal research interests are in how we can improve the natural language processing algorithms to extract the phenotype more comprehensiveness with less missing. In other words, I am interested in how to realize data reuse in the realm of medicine.

Born and raised in Lanzhou, China (famous for its beef noodles), I was lucky to attend Tianjin Nankai High School for my senior high, where my interest in biology and computer science first started. I continued my academics and research at the Dalian University of Technology for 4 years, graduating in the summer of 2022. In the fall of the same year, I joined the BMI program under the supervision of Dr. Cheng to continue my research in cancer and immunotherapy. Go Buckeyes!

I grew up in the Washington DC area, and attended Ohio State for my undergraduate education. I majored in Mathematics and Physics, graduating in 2018. At OSU I joined the lab of Dr. Richard Fishel in the Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics. In his lab I worked on implementing new methods of florescent labeling proteins, which I used to design new single molecule assays and develop a drug screen. As a graduate student in the BSGP I plan to continue research with Dr. Fishel, and will be working on understanding the underlying molecular mechanism behind Huntington’s disease. Outside of the lab I love reading, boardgames and cooking.

I was born in Mexico City, raised in Los Angeles, California and graduated high school in Newark, Ohio, just east of Columbus. I continued my academic career at The Ohio State University, graduating Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Linguistics and Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. As an undergraduate I was involved in various organizations supporting the Latino community on campus as well as the greater Columbus area. During the summer of my junior year I participated in Ohio State’s Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP), whose aim is to introduce underrepresented minority groups to academic scientific research. I worked under the guidance of Dr. Dehua Pei in the Department of Chemistry on recombinant protein production and enzymatic amino acid synthesis. I currently work in the laboratory of Dr. Kristine Yoder studying retroviruses like HIV. Specifically, we focus on the integration step of the retrovirus life cycle, in which the viral cDNA is inserted into the host genome. My project aims to characterize the real time kinetics of this process using a combination of biochemical and single-molecule (sm-) imaging techniques, including sm-magnetic tweezers and sm-Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy (TIRF-M). My research has revealed the possibilities of using single molecule techniques to better understand complex biological systems. I look forward to pursuing my interests and gaining fundamental research training from the multitude of expert faculty in this program.

I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio and graduated from the Ohio State University with my bachelor’s degree in biomedical science (Summa cum laude, with honors research distinction) in 2016. As an undergraduate student, I spent 3.5 years studying the post-translational regulation of the PTEN tumor suppressor in breast and endometrial cancer in the lab of Dr. Gustavo Leone and completed an honors thesis during my time in the lab. I also had the opportunity to present several posters at research forums to share my findings with a larger audience. Specifically, I studied how the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway leads to degradation of PTEN and then characterized the downstream effects resulting from loss of this protein in both cells and mice. During my senior year in the lab I was awarded a Pelotonia fellowship to support my research efforts. Despite being heavily invested in the basic science components of my project, the clinical implications of my research never escaped me. I was fortunate to be able to arrange for shadowing opportunities at the hospital with surgical oncologist collaborators. This experience is what solidified my interest in pursuing a joint MD/PhD following graduation. I ultimately decided to remain at OSU and join the MSTP. I am completing my graduate training in the lab of Dr. Michael Caligiuri and Dr. Aharon Freud. The focus of my current project is to understand how viruses (specifically HSV and CMV) interact with the innate immune system (with an emphasis on natural killer cells and ILCs). I ultimately would like to be a pathologist with both an active research lab and clinical practice. Outside of research, I am heavily involved in the music community in Columbus. I have played baritone in the Dublin Silver Band (a British Style Brass Band) since 2012. As a member of this group, I have toured internationally in the UK and also domestically for various competitions. I have also served on the executive board of the Professional School Orchestra at OSU, which is comprised of students enrolled in a professional program (law, vet med, med, optometry, etc.) who want to keep playing their instruments. My other leadership roles at OSU include being President of the Pathology Student Interest Group and former Vice President of the Oncology Interest Group.

While born in Ukraine, I was raised in the American Midwest and attended the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where I received my Bachelor of Arts in biology in May 2016. In June 2013, I became a research assistant under Dr. Jayna Ditty in the Biology Department at the university, and I studied motility of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida in response to aromatic acids. My project contributed to expanding the known repertoire of compounds that P. putida can use as an energy source and respond to with movement. Simultaneously, my interest in medicine was maintained through work at a private internal medicine clinic in St. Paul, as well as volunteer experience at a local hospital. Following graduation, I began a full-time position in medical devices as a Product Analyst at Abbott (formerly St. Jude Medical). My education and professional experience have incited my curiosity in how laboratory bench work can influence health outcomes. I am interested in the research areas of immunology and microbial pathogenesis, and I am eager to continue my scientific training under the guidance of faculty and current students involved in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program.

I was born over the Atlantic in the country of Belarus, and I moved to the Hamilton, New Jersey at the age of 10. Three years later, I relocated to the greater Philadelphia area, where I stayed to complete high school and to obtain both a Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Chemistry from Drexel University. Throughout my undergraduate education, I consistently explored medical volunteering and shadowing opportunities; these experiences have proved to cement my interests in medicine as a whole. Alongside all of this, I conducted research at Drexel under Dr. Reinhard Schweitzer-Stenner - a biomolecular spectroscopist - for five years, studying the structural dynamics of cytochrome c on mitochondrial membrane surfaces. My experiences thus far have inspired me to pursue medical research as a career. With my interests laying in the biophysical side of things, I am excited to join the BSGP as a part of MSTP program.

I’m from Phoenix, AZ. I graduated from Arizona State University with my Bachelor and Master of Science in Biological Sciences. I am now a Research Fellow in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. As of June 2021 I am rotating in Dr. Timothy Cripe’s lab at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The lab’s research focuses on developing targeted therapies for pediatric tumors. The team investigates the use of viruses that selectively infect and kill cancer cells. My personal goal is to develop safe and effective immunotherapies for translation to the clinic.

Lynn Marcho is from Gresham Oregon and graduated from the University of Maine in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and a double major in Biochemistry. She has worked for the US Department of Agriculture, and more recently at The Ohio State University as a Research Associate for several years. The projects she has contributed to have varied from discovering genetic variants of agricultural diseases, to improving vascular surgery techniques, to creating viruses. She has a passion for interdisciplinary collaborations to solve complex problems and believes they result in major breakthroughs for the patient that could not be achieved by a single researcher alone. Her current research interests lie in developing new treatments for breast cancer patients with a focus on translational science and experimental therapeutics.

I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. I attended college at the University of Missouri-Columbia, otherwise known as Mizzou, completing my Biological Sciences degree in 2018. After graduating, I received a position at the Cytogenomics and Molecular Pathology Laboratory at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where I performed FISH (fluorescent in-situ hybridization), chromosomal microarray, and chromosome analysis to identify genetic abnormalities in clinical patients with various hematologic malignancies. In addition, I performed prenatal testing of products of conception, amniotic fluids, and chronic villi samples to help identify prenatal genetic disorders. During my time at the lab, I also performed research, examining the complex interaction of the tumor microenvironment in patients with multiple myeloma and other plasma cell neoplasms, identifying new targets for therapy. I joined the BSGP at OSU in 2021, with interests in CAR T-cell therapies and mechanisms of resistance in pediatric leukemia and lymphomas. In the future, I hope to make novel discoveries about cell-signaling interactions and support the development of anti-cancer agents through translational research.

I grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I went to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities where I completed my Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. Here, I joined Dr. Gary Dunny's lab examining the role of extracellular DNA in enterococcal biofilms and characterizing the role of autolysins in eDNA release. Subsequently, I obtained my Master of Public Health in Epidemiology with a minor in Biostatistics from the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health. During this time, I completed my thesis in Dr. Amy Linabery’s lab at Children’s of Minnesota investigating pediatric mild traumatic brain injury recovery using time-to-event and generalized linear mixed effect modelling and participated in the Uganda Research Training Collaborative examining surgical antibiotic prophylaxis in the context of antimicrobial resistance. Outside of research, I have two amazing dogs – Riley and Francis – who I love to go hiking with and take agility for fun classes! I am very excited to begin my MSTP training here at OSU.

I was born in Atlanta, GA, and I grew up in Cumming, GA. I joined the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program in Summer 2022 after earning my Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from the University of Georgia in May of 2022. While at UGA, I worked in the lab of Dr. Eric Harvill, studying the host-pathogen interactions of Bordetella spp. infections. My work focused on the btrS gene, known to encode a sigma factor with immunomodulatory properties, and the differential immune cell populations recruited upon infection with a mutant lacking this gene. Since moving to Columbus, I have joined the lab of Dr. Adriana Forero, where I am joining a project investigating the host immune response associated with the formation of RNA:DNA hybrids in various cellular processes. I have also begun a project investigating the roles of these RNA:DNA hybrids in herpesvirus pathogenesis. I am excited to continue my work in host-pathogen interactions while expanding into the field of interferon-driven immunopathology.

I was born and raised in Madrid, Spain. I got my bachelor's degree in Biology at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and then I did a Master's in Cell Biology and Genetics obtaining the degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Universidad de Alcala de Henares. My thesis to obtain my bachelor's and master's degree focused on chromosome segregation during male meiosis in mice. Afterwards, I did an internship at the University of Birmingham where I worked on a research project on the effect of cisplatin on meiosis using Daphnia magna as an animal model. In the same year, after finishing my internship, I worked for two years at the university Rey Juan Carlos in collaboration with one of the most prestigious scientific institutes in Madrid, IDiPaz. In those two years, my research project consisted in using mesoporous silica nanoparticles applied to triple negative breast cancer. However, my dream has always been focused on studying the brain and now, I have the great opportunity to work in neurosciences under the supervision of Dr. Maria Ariza. My graduate student project focuses on studying the effect of herpesvirus proteins on neuronal cells.

I am from Wilmington, Ohio which is a small town located between Cincinnati and Dayton. I will graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the University of Dayton in May 2019. During my undergraduate studies, I conducted research in Dr. Yvonne Sun’s lab studying Listeria monocytogenes and environmental effects on its antibiotic susceptibility and virulence. I also spent a summer at the University of Iowa in Dr. Mary Weber’s lab researching Chlamydia trachomatis and the role of secreted effector proteins on its ability to infect different cell types. My research interests include infectious disease and immunology. My research experiences have ignited my passion for biomedical research and I am excited to begin graduate studies here at OSU.

I am an international student from China, Beijing. Before I came to the US, I studied at Beijing University of Agriculture for my bachelor degree major in biotechnology. After graduation, I had nearly six years working experiences in the pharmaceutical field, including Product Line Supervisor in R&D department for molecular product research. I was graduated from IIT with an excellent performance, major in Cell and Molecular biology with master degree in 2018. I have worked with Dr. Alessandro Parodi in Dr. Malik`s lab in UIC Department of Pharmacology as a research assistant for nearly one year. In this work we demonstrated that macrophage exposed to antagonist inducers like IL4 and LPS favor mitochondrial toxicity and inflammatory phenotype. After graduate from IIT, I came to Dr. Zhao`s lab as a research associate. Our major goal is to investigate the role, especially the anti-inflammation function, of PTMs, like methylation, ubiquitination, phosphorylation, ISGylation on proteins to response to the bacteria or virus induced pulmonary inflammation disease, acute lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, sepsis etc. It is my honor to join in the BSGP and follow with Dr. Yutong Zhao and Dr. Jing Zhao, who provied me strong academic atmosphere, free research environment and seasoned scholars. O-H-I-O!

I started my pursuit of translational research a decade ago during my undergraduate at University of Waterloo, Canada, as we learned about failed clinical and public health initiatives supported by solid basic research. This observation led Dr. Ward and I to planning a personalized education and work plan, which would expose me to multiple sectors that must work together for basic research to yield public health benefits. Since then, I have worked and learned from a dozen clinical research teams specializing in 10 medical disciplines across two countries, while attaining my graduate education in public relations and pharmacology. Dr. Joseph Kitzmiller’s background, research in pharmacogenomics, and vision of translational research resonates with mine thus, making his lab the ideal place for me to learn. I will be working in the field of pharmacogenomics, specifically with statin myopathies and utilizing biomedical informatics to set the stage for new clinical trials.

I am from San Diego, California. I went to the University of California San Diego, where I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology in June 2017. During my time at UCSD I worked in Dr. John Yates III’s lab at the Scripps Research Institute. I worked in the field of proteomics, studying fruit fly hybrid proteomes as well as developing a method for accurate quantification at protein levels. I also volunteered at UCSD Moore’s Cancer Center where I worked with newly diagnosed patients. My senior year at UCSD, I worked briefly in a lab at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography studying deep sea sediment samples. Since graduation, I have been working as a lab manager for Dr. Derek Welsbie at UCSD Health studying glaucoma and neuron degeneration. Through both my experiences in research labs as well as my time volunteering at the cancer center, I have found my interest in medical research.

I am originally from Pittsburgh, PA, and I moved to Columbus in 2017 to begin my undergraduate degree at Ohio State University. I graduated from Ohio State in May of 2021 with my Bachelor's of Science in Biomedical Engineering. I will be staying in Columbus to begin the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program in June of 2021. My personal research interests focus on the mechanical and biological pathways of cancer metastasis. I am interested in using these pathways to further understand how metastasis occurs and how we can block these pathways to prevent it.

I was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, and attended Youngstown State University where I received a B.S in Biology with double minors in Chemistry and Music in 2019. During my senior year of college, I completed an undergraduate honors thesis studying vancomycin-resistant enterococci present in a lake near the university that was contaminated with human waste. My undergraduate thesis introduced me to the field of microbial ecology and curated an interest in microbiome science and host health. This interest led me to pursue a master’s degree in Comparative Biomedical Sciences here at The Ohio State University under the direction of Dr. Vanessa Hale. Throughout my master’s degree, I studied the urine microbiota in dogs. Specifically, I studied the microbial diversity and composition in urine from dogs with and without bladder cancer. I am also fortunate to have my first-author manuscript accepted for publication titled “Evaluating Extraction Methods to Study Canine Urine Microbiota” where I evaluated extraction methods suitable for canine urine microbiota studies. In BSGP, I am excited to continue my passion for microbiome science and its influence on host health and disease.

I was born and raised in Belvidere, New Jersey, a small town near the Delaware Water Gap, just over an hour outside of New York City. As an undergraduate, I first attended Seton Hall University, where I had the opportunity to work on a research project in an organic chemistry laboratory under Dr. Cecilia Marzabadi. This project focused on synthesizing low molecular weight saccharides for potential use as immunological adjuvants in anti-epileptic drugs. Following my freshman year, I transferred to the University of South Carolina (USC) where I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences in May of 2019. At USC I worked in the neurobiology lab of Dr. Deanna S Smith, under whom I worked to elucidate the roles of cytoplasmic dynein and its kinase regulator GSK-3β in regenerative axon growth. I am inspired to pursue research in the biomedical sciences, particularly in the field of neuroscience, by both family history and personal amazement with the complexity of nervous systems, and am excited to continue this as a student in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at The Ohio State University.

I was raised in Avon, OH, a Cleveland suburb. I received my bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from The Ohio State University in May 2017. After graduation, I began volunteering and later working as a research assistant in Dr. Terence Williams’ laboratory group in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Wexner Medical Center. While in the Williams lab, I studied the effects of Caveolin expression in tumors on response to albumin-bound therapy, caveolae-mediated resistance to doxorubicin treatment, and synergism and antagonism of late-stage pancreatic cancer combination chemotherapy as a result in changes of timing of drug administration. I aspire to contribute to the biomedical research community during my time in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program and beyond, and hope to see my work positively impact the health of patients. While in the graduate program, I hope to work on translational or preventative therapies. I am excited to join Ohio State’s College of Medicine and anticipate that I will grow both as a research scientist and as a compassionate member of society.

I'm from a small town in Ohio called Circleville. I graduated from The Ohio State University in the winter of 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. During my undergraduate studies, I spent time in the Tsichlis Laboratory working on projects regarding the genome-wide role of IWS1 in RNA processing for lung adenocarcinoma. Beginning in the summer, I will be performing laboratory rotations. My current research interests are focused on immuno-oncology and how potential cures can be found for cancer by using the body's immune system.

I was born and raised in the city Sirsi in the state of Karnataka of India. I earned a degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Biotechnology in September 2014 from People’s Education Society Institute of Technology (PESIT) in Bangalore. In PESIT, I had the opportunity of working as an undergraduate research assistant under Dr. Shantha Lingaiah where I worked on micropropagation and biochemical analysis of the plant Averrhoa bilimbi. I completed my bachelors with my major project on ‘Structural elucidation of Humic and Fulvic acids’, under the guidance of my academic mentor, Dr. V Krishnamurthy. Following this, I had the privilege of working as an undergraduate research assistant during the summer of 2014 in Michigan State University under Dr. Phanikumar Mantha on identifying parsimonioius statistical models for E coli levels at fresh water beaches in Lake Michigan . My past experience in research has motivated me to continue research by becoming a doctoral student. I have joined the Strohecker lab where I am working on understanding the role of novel autophagy regulators in lung cancer using advanced microscopy and mouse genetics. I look forward to increasing my knowledge in autophagy and cancer biology. I am proud to be a part of Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program.

I am from Braintree, Massachusetts. I attended the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT and graduated in May 2018 with a Bachelor's of Science in Molecular and Cell Biology. Since graduating, I have been working as a research technician at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA in the Center for Immuno-Oncology where we conduct immune monitoring of patients on active immunotherapy clinical trials to investigate biomarker discovery utilizing flow and mass cytometry. My research interests are broad and include cancer immunology, genetics, and therapeutic discovery.

I was born and raised in Alexandria, VA as a Buckeye fan. In 2017 I moved to Columbus to begin my undergraduate studies where I earned a BS in molecular genetics in May of 2021. Volunteering in Dr. Parvathi Ranganathan’s lab during undergrad, I continued to work as a technician for a year before joining the BSGP. There I gained an appreciation for immunology, which led me to this program where I can further pursue my research interests.

I am from Tehran, Iran. I attended Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch, Tehran and graduated in September 2015 with my Master of Science in Molecular Genetics. In June of 2021, I will move to Columbus in order to matriculate into the Biomedical Science Graduate Program. I am going to be a member of Dr. David Carbone’s lab at OSUCCC-James Cancer Hospital and Solve Research Institute. Our research focus is on genetics, immunotherapy and tumor-associated immunosuppression mechanisms in lung cancer. The lab primary interests include the development of molecular biomarkers to guide patient’s management and therapy as well as molecular profiling of lung cancer due to development of therapeutic strategies. Regarding to my interests and goals, I hope that with my studies I can contribute to the understanding and development of novel ways of cancer treatment.

I grew up in Boiling Springs, a town in south central Pennsylvania. I attended Bucknell University for undergrad, where I studied Cell Biology/ Biochemistry. My major activities at Bucknell included Army ROTC, outdoor education, and my sorority. Over my three free summers in undergrad I completed research internships at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute with Dr. Frank Slack, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with Dr. Ryan Potts, and the National Cancer Institute with Dr. Alan Perantoni. My first project focused on microRNA regulation involved in aging and cancer. My second project centered around characterizing the effect of phosphorylation on a WNT signaling regulator. My final project aimed to characterize chondrocyte fate in bone development and the role of Stat3 in this process. I have wide ranging and ever growing interests, in women's and children's health, nutrition, obesity, social determinants of health, and underprivileged health. I am excited to learn from and work with the enthusiastic and accomplished faculty of the program.