I was born in Chengdu, one of the biggest cities in the southern part of China. I attended college at Sichuan Agricultural University (SICAU) and received my Bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine. During my study in SICAU, I applied a Youth Innovation Program of Sichuan Science and Technology Department and started doing research in my sophomore year in Dr. Kaiyu Wang’s lab. There, I worked on projects to construct the E.coli cloning bacteria system of single mature peptide protein of channel catfish’s NK-lysin antibacterial peptide, and performed induced expression, purification, fusion, tagging and excision, which led to my acquisition of the protein of the NK-lysin antibacterial peptide with antibacterial activity. In my senior year of Bachelor degree, I attended University of Helsinki in Finland as an exchange student and spent time in Dr. Miia Lindström’s lab on Clostridium botulinum. My research experience along with my interest in medicine has motivated me to pursue a career as a medicine scientist. I have a strong passion for immunology and cancer biology, and I am excited to join the OSU community and conduct medicine projects with like-minded people there.

I was born and raised in Colorado. I attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where I received a B.A. and an M.A. in history, and a J.D. I then practiced environmental law in Denver for 16 years. I returned to school in 2012 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins where I received a B.S. in Microbiology before coming to The Ohio State University.

I was born and raised in Beavercreek, Ohio which is located in the greater Dayton region. I attended The Ohio State University, where I majored in Biomedical Science and earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science in May of 2019. During my undergraduate years at OSU, I became involved in several activities pertaining to the James Cancer Hospital. Since August of 2016, I have been involved in volunteer services at the hospital, assisting in the James Emergency Department during my time in college. I have also been able to become involved in the James Cancer Hospital mission through Pelotonia, a fundraising and public awareness initiative focused on advancing both clinical care and research for cancer patients. While at The Ohio State University, I became involved in cancer research in the lab of Dr. Lawrence S. Kirschner, which focuses on examining the genetics and molecular mechanisms associated with inherited endocrine tumor disorders. I have been a part of Dr. Kirschner’s lab in the Department of Internal Medicine since 2017, and my project has primarily focused on characterizing and understanding the effects of a missense mutation within a mitochondrial enzyme gene that has been frequently found in patients with thyroid cancer and other inherited endocrine tumor disorders. The findings from this scientific investigation could be critical in better understanding how tumor progression occurs due to mutations through altered metabolic conditions. Based on my experiences in both research and healthcare, I am interested in pursuing an education and career in medical research, with an emphasis on applying scientific findings towards the clinical environment. I am specifically interested in studying cancer immunology and hope to gain incredible experiences and knowledge from faculty members and mentors while in the BSGP program.

I am from Gates, NC located near the border of North Carolina and Virginia near the coast of North Carolina. I was a Biology major at Western Carolina University located in the mountains of North Carolina and earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a concentration in Cellular and Molecular Biology. During my time at Western Carolina University, I worked with the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neofomans to localize the Mip1p protein that encodes for DNA Polymerase Gamma using green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the supervision of my research mentor, Dr. Indrani Bose. By localizing this protein, we hoped that it would provide insight into a possible drug target for this pathogen that afflicts the immunocompromised population leading to meningoencephalitis. During the summer of my junior year, I participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at Johns Hopkins University where I worked in Dr. Alfredo Kirkwood's lab to determine the role of serotonin in inducing metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated long-term depression (LTD) in the primary visual cortex. My research interests are in immunology, microbial pathogenesis, and overall infectious disease. I hope to study infectious diseases and the organisms that cause them to help in developing vaccines and treatments to combat these diseases. I look forward to learning and training at OSU that will allow to grow and develop a successful career in science.

I was born in Taipei, but grew up outside of Chicago (the city remains my first love). Following high school I attended Penn State University where I received my B.S. in Pre-Medicine in 2014. At Penn State I had my first, real experience with scientific research working on analyzing the mutational relationships in the Hippo Cancer Pathway. This signaled a turning point in my interests as I began to truly appreciate the importance of research in the advancement of medicine. Following my graduation, I matriculated into a Master’s program at Harvard University where I had the amazing opportunity to work in Dr. Li-Li Hsiao’s Lab at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Here I had a front row seat at the intersection of the lab and clinic. While I was involved in a number of projects ranging from cancer identification to endothelium nitric oxide production, my main focus was on cell death and its contribution to vascular calcification. Outside of the classroom and lab I became involved with the student government and local shelters (poverty reduction is another passion of mine). All in all, while my current research interests lie within in the renal-cardiovascular field, I hope to gain experiences in therapeutic development and translational research as I explore the numerous opportunities at THE Ohio State University under the guidance of its remarkable faculty.

I was from China and major in bioengineer at China Pharmaceutical University. Occasionally, I learned bioinformatics in the last year of the undergraduate stage, but I attracted by the concept of computational biology and decided to enter this field. After graduating, I worked at the sequencing center in the Shanghai Institute of Immunology as a data analyst for two years. In the beginning, it is painful for me to learn a computer language because I only had few computational fundamentals. However, I liked this struggling experience because it brought me an intrinsic curiosity to explore the black zone. Now I am co-mentored by Dr. Qin Ma and Dr. Zihai Li, and interested in NGS application (mainly focusing on single-cell) on immune-oncology to explore the lineage tree and corresponding functionalities behind tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, I am also interested in multi-modal and multi-omics data integrative analyses to maximally dig out genome information from high dimension data.

My passion for biomedical science started from my work experience in Pfizer. When I cooperated with several local ICU departments in China, I noticed that drug resistance and drug-tolerance problems have always been the most serious situations troubling clinicians. Every time when I saw a patient had no effective drug to use, I would reflect on what I could do to solve those problems. With this idea, I enrolled in the masters’ program of Chemical Biology at Stevens Institute of Technology in 2017. Although bio-techniques are currently enjoying a rapid growth, the medical problems we are facing are constant. Today, there are still a lot of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), whose etiology is still a mystery. To grasp a better understanding of AD, I began a lab internship with Dr. Harry Fu at Columbia University Medical Center in 2018. Our work focused on clarifying the underlying principle of selective vulnerability of excitatory neurons to tau pathology. However, we are still far from thoroughly solving all the AD problems. What I desire to know more about is the exact positions of origin for the AD lesion and how the microenvironment changes around these positions before the formation of pathological features. The College of Medicine at Ohio State University provides us a very good opportunity for professional training with many talented scientists, and the biomedical sciences graduate program also offers a cross-disciplinary platform allowing me to reexamine all the evidence found from different respects of AD. Thus, doing research at OSU will be a very good start for me to unravel the mystery of AD in the future.

I was born and raised in North Royalton, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. I graduated from The Ohio State University in the Spring of 2014 earning my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. While pursuing my undergraduate degree, I was responsible for the curriculum design and implementation of an introductory biology lab course under the guidance of Dr. Caroline Breitenberger. This course involved the isolation of endophytic fungi from plant tissue and is still an available elective at the university today. After graduation, I worked as both a dialysis technician and landscaper which inevitably resulted in my position as a research assistant in a cystic fibrosis laboratory. Under the direction of Dr. Mitchell Drumm at Case Western Reserve University, I worked alongside graduate student, Shuyu Hao, in unraveling the mechanism of inflammation in macrophages and neutrophils involved in CF lung deterioration. It was this experience that prompted me to pursue a PhD in biomedical science. Due to my most recent research experience, I have a strong interest in immunology and cell biology. I look forward to working with the devoted and skilled students and faculty at OSU, and I am eager to take advantage of the training and experiences offered through this program.

I'm from Bakersfield, CA. I attend California State University, Bakersfield in Bakersfield, CA and intend to graduate in May 2021 with my Bachelor's of Science in Biology and a concentration in Biotechnology. As of April of 2021, I am an undergraduate student. My personal research interests are in functional genomics and translational research.

I was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. For my undergraduate studies I moved to Pamplona, Spain, where I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. Also during this time, I worked at the Genetics department of The University of Navarra developing a construct to study the regulation of JAK2 in myeloproliferative neoplasms. In addition, I also worked for a summer in the National University of Colombia at an Immunology and Evolutionary Genetics lab. Afterwards, I moved to the UK, where I studied for a Master of Science in Cancer Research and Molecular Biomedicine at The University of Manchester. For this purpose, I did two research projects: The first one aimed to link the circadian regulator CLOCK with the expression of the cell-cycle regulator GADD45α, using mouse embryonic fibroblasts. The second project investigated the effect of starvation on unfolded protein response and lifespan changes in Caenorhabditis elegans.Finally, I moved to work at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. There I contributed to molecular epidemiologic studies by processing human specimens, conducting genotypic and phenotypic assays, and maintaining bio-repositories. Projects include evaluation of genetics in relation to cognitive decline in long term breast cancer survivors and evaluation of the effect of biochemically-verified smoking exposure on bladder cancer recurrence. I am particularly interested in the molecular biology of cancer, and I look forward to further understand these diseases as part of my doctorate research.

I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. I completed my undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University and earned my Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in the Spring of 2014. Upon graduating, I spent a year as a volunteer in Dr. Brenda Lilly’s lab at Nationwide Children’s Hospital looking at Notch Signaling and its implications in Diabetic Retinopathy. Afterwards, I acquired a Research Assistant position with Dr. Maria Ariza where I have spent the past four years studying the immunomodulatory properties of Herpesvirus-encoded dUTPases and their roles in exacerbating the progression of the diseases they are associated with. Under Dr. Ariza’s mentorship, I hope to use the resources and knowledge provided by the BSGP in order to study these dUTPases in the context of Alzheimer’s Disease and their potential roles in neuroinflammation and synaptic plasticity.

I was born in Vancouver, Canada but grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. I graduated from Yale University in 2016 with a joint BS/MS in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry. My undergraduate research focused on the discovery of novel antibiotic and antitumor compounds from fungal endophytes, as part of Dr. Scott Strobel’s HHMI-funded course, Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory. After graduation, I moved to Boston to continue research in antibiotic discovery with Dr. Kim Lewis at Northeastern University. I am interested in natural products as a source of new therapeutics, particularly antibiotics, and I intend to continue pursuing drug discovery as a member of the MSTP.

I was born in Arlington, Virginia and grew up just outside of Washington D.C. I graduated from the University of Virginia in 2015 with a degree in Chemistry with specialization in Biochemistry. At UVA, I worked in the lab of Dr. Alison Criss, studying how N. gonorrhoeae is able to evade clearance by the human immune system. In addition to maturing my scientific skill set at UVA, I also joined and led a student-run service organization, Alpha Phi Omega. In my time working alongside friends and community partners, I developed a passion for and commitment to helping people directly. I am currently enrolled in the OSU Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD). After completing pre-clinical training in medical school, I joined the lab of Dr. Amal Amer. In the lab, I will study regulation of inflammatory pathways in Alzheimer’s disease. The MSTP is a place for me to continue to unfold my passion for immunology, and become an effective, thoughtful, and empathetic physician-scientist. I want to fully understand how to translate between bench and bedside, and learn to be a leader in making medicine better.

I am from sunny San Jose, California. I completed my undergraduate degree in Microbiology at UC Davis in 2016. Following graduation, I started my research at Dr. Huang's neurology lab at Stanford University studying gene effects on mouse behavior and memory. In 2018 I transitioned to NGM Biopharmaceuticals researching suppressive immune cell biology involvement in cancer. My experience at NGM is the main motivator behind my own research interest in understanding the relationship between immune regulation and disease progression.

I was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh in April 2019. During my senior year I changed my career trajectory from veterinary school to one based in biomedical research. Since the majority of my lab experience came from undergraduate lab courses, I began to look for an opportunity to gain research experience and prepare myself for applying to graduate school. I began working as a Laboratory Technician under Dr. Prasenjit Dey at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY. Dr. Dey had recently relocated his lab to Roswell Park and so alongside the research experience I also gained an understanding on how to run and build a lab from the ground up. During my time at Roswell Park I helped in researching the tumor microenvironment of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Specifically, we were investigating the role of ILC2 cells and the alarmin IL-33 on tumorigenesis. This position helped to cement my interest in biomedical research and while I enjoyed broadening my horizons to include cancer biology, I look forward to furthering my understanding of microbiology and immunology in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at OSU.

I am, originally, from Mumbai, India where I completed my Undergrad in Pharmacy. I came to US in 2014 to pursue Master's in Pharmacology and Toxicology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio; during which I studied the effects of a patented pharmacological drug combination and physical rehabilitation on the Ischemic stroke in a rat model. Further, I got an opportunity to work with Dr. Tendy Chiang and Dr. Christopher Breuer at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Fascinated by the intricate large and small in vivo models in these labs, I dived deeper in to the world of tissue engineering which continues to feed my curiosities every day. I look forward to being a Buckeye and am excited to meet and learn alongside all the budding scientists!

I am a New York City native and a recent graduate from The Ohio State University. I received a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology, with a minor in Global Public Health. Additionally, I graduated from Ohio State with research distinction. Stemming from my freshman year, I have been heavily involved in a diverse array of activities. These activities include being the first two-time president for the African Youth League and to being a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Theta Chapter. Through my various accomplishments, I am most proud of my undergraduate research that I did under Dr. Darryl Hood’s advisement. This project started the summer of my junior year and would help me determine my ultimate passion in life. Under Dr. Hood’s guidance, we entered 7 underserved communities of the Southern Gateway of Columbus. These communities were negatively impacted by the high numbers of Toxic Release Industries in their backyards, an increased infant mortality rate and more. Through our work, we hypothesize that there was a direct relationship with the associative relationship between low socioeconomic status, high environmental toxicity exposure, and high infant mortality rate. We used the new Public Health Exposome Framework in addition to using a Bayesian analysis. From this project, we were able to educate residents about their exposure risk and ways to improve their quality of life.Upon graduation I joined Dr. Jeffery Parvin’s cancer research lab through the Discovery Prep Program. Through this program I was also under the mentorship from Dr. Michael Freitas. Currently, I am specifically working to produce a computational procedure that will be used to calculate and determine the statistical significance of the high throughput data received from the deep mutagenesis experiments performed in the Parvin lab. Additionally, I am working on making an automated program that can run our analysis procedure directly from the command line. Outside of research, I mentor students about STEM fields, hoping to spark their interests in pursuing a STEM-related field later in life. I was recently appointed by Governor Kasich to serve as a commissioner on his New Ohio African Immigrant Commission.

I was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam then I moved to America when I was sixteen years old. I attended the University of Washington (UW), where I studied Biology and earned my Bachelor of Science degree in June 2019. During my undergraduate study at the UW, I trained and worked as a research assistant at Fred Hutch for five years and at Seattle Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Research for almost three years. I also spent two years volunteering at Swedish hospital as a Cope Health Scholar to provide healthcare for patients in different departments such as cardiovascular and cancer wards. In the fall of 2017, I started researching Gastric Dilatation Volvulus (GDV) in German Shepherds through the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center with Dr. Michael Harkey and have continued this project throughout my senior year. My project focused on three immune-related genes, two of which are major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, DLA88 and DRB1, and the other being an innate immunity gene, TLR5 to find diagnostic markers for GDV. This work could be used to identify the dogs at risk for GDV. My research experience and my time volunteering as a healthcare provider have motivated me to pursue my research in biomedical science. My primary interest is in cancer biology, specifically focused on the mechanism of stem cell differentiation. I look forward to the challenges and learning opportunities that will be presented to me in my career and am eager to make advancements in biomedical research at The Ohio State University.

I was born in Columbus, Ohio, and completed my primary and high school education in the small town of Baltimore, Ohio. Following high school, I enrolled into the undergraduate neuroscience program at The Ohio State University, where I completed my Bachelors of Science in neuroscience in May of 2019. In February 2017, I began working as a Digital Communications Intern with the Office of Academic Affairs at Ohio State. Here, I was introduced to news and media, specifically in the realm of research and academic success at Ohio State. Beginning in August 2017, I accumulated experience in research publishing for the multidisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Research at Ohio State (JUROS), both as a science editor, and eventually as the Editor-in-Chief. Through this experience, I gained a passion for interdisciplinary work, which led me to my lab experience with the Biomedical Engineering department. Here, I accumulated research experience under the guidance of Drs. Daniel Gallego-Perez and Natalia Higuita-Castro. In this lab, we study nanotechnology-enabled nuclear reprogramming and cell therapies. Our method of nuclear reprogramming, known as tissue nano-transfection (TNT), utilizes plasmid DNA that is electroporated into highly specific target regions of the cell via nanochannels. We hope to utilize our novel methods of cellular reprogramming in many models of disease, such as Alzheimer’s Disease, stroke, diabetes, etc. My experience as an undergraduate researcher, as well as holding a leadership position with a research journal, has really driven my passion to teach about interdisciplinary work in the sciences, leading me to pursue a career in academia. My particular interest lies at the junction of micro- and nano-technology and neurodegenerative disorders.

I am from Louisville, Colorado, a suburb of Boulder, Colorado, and grew up with the Rocky Mountains in my backyard. I went to Washington University in St. Louis for undergrad, where I received a Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. During my time as an undergraduate I completed a senior thesis in an Dr. John Edwards' lab in the Department of Medicine and the Center for Pharmacogenomics at Washington University School of Medicine. My project aimed to characterize the role of Ecat11 in preventing novel L1 insertion. I then took a gap year to work as a research technician in Dr. Meredith Jackrel's lab in the Department of Chemistry. Apart from research, I played on WashU's competitive club ultimate team and volunteered with Gateway to the Great Outdoors, where we educated local children about environmental sustainability. Now at OSU, I am looking forward to starting my training as an MSTP.

This is Mahmoud Eid, has M.Sc. in Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at July, 2016 from College of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Egypt. In 2017, I was awarded fellowship to The Ohio State University (OSU) for two years. Since then, I have been working and participating in many research projects in Dr. Jay Zweier’s laboratory in The Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, OSU. Zweier’s lab projects are mainly investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in nicotine inhalation and tobacco cigarettes smoke exposure induced cardiovascular disorders and vascular endothelial dysfunction. Zweier’s lab is also examining the validation of Cytoglobin role in the vasculature and elucidation whether the variation of Cytoglobin expression in vivo would result in comparative variation in cardiovascular function, vascular tone and blood pressure. The main proposal of my research in Zweier’s lab is totally concerned with lung cancer incidence following electronic cigarettes use and underlying mechanisms. I am investigating the inflammation/DNA damage/ lung cancer associated with e-cigarettes use and the role of stemness process, epithelial to mesenchymal reprogramming (EMT) and nicotinic ACh receptors (nAChRs) signaling pathways in e-cig-induced lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The research environment, the outstanding professors at OSU and the progress in my research project motivated me to pursue and start my PhD graduate studies in Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program (BSGP) since 2021.

I am originally from Washington Township in southern New Jersey. For my undergraduate education, I attended Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, where I majored in Biology and minored in Biostatistics and German. I became involved in an independent research lab during my junior year under my advisor, Dr. Lyczak, to study mutations in crucial developmental proteins.  My project utilized confocal microscopy to study cell cycle efficiency, specifically meiotic divisions. I was able to investigate the relationship between two proteins, WEE-1.3 and PAM-1, through secondary suppression to restore wildtype behavior and fertility. The understanding of these pathways enabled me to better conceptualize the importance of functional cell divisions in a developing C. elegans embryo. This work has inspired me to continue biomedical research as a student of the Ohio State Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program by applying my knowledge of cell signaling to immunological processes. I hope to continue to emphasize the importance of biomedical research through public outreach and clinical applications.

I attended Beijing Institute of Technology in 2014, where I majored in Computer Science. I was first interested in machine learning and after taking part in a workshop about "Precision Medicine and Medical Big Data", I was totally fascinated by the charm and meaningfulness of the combination of biology, healthcare and computer science. I joined Beijing Lab of Intelligent Information Technology as a research assistant in 2017, under the supervision of Professor Dandan Song who specializes in both bioinformatics and intelligent system. My first project was to develop a new mapping algorithm for Third-Generation Sequencing data to improve the accuracy and I successfully proposed CLUSVM which makes use of k-mer distribution and SVM classifier. My current interest lies in discovering protein functions and protein-protein interactions by way of computational methods such as representation learning on graphs and feature extraction of various information associated with proteins. I believe the ultimate purpose of bioinformatics is to better comprehend the nature of certain human diseases and to better serve human beings, and I hope I could find a way to achieve my goal.

Amidst my family's emigration from Tehran, Iran to the United States, I was born in Madrid, Spain. We moved around a few times before finally settling in Los Angeles, CA, where I spent the majority of my life. I attended UCLA in pursuit of my undergraduate degree and earned my Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience in 2010. In the five years following graduation I did research with various faculty members of the UCLA Departments of Physiology and Integrative Biology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. My experience has carried me through many different experimental models and scientific techniques, but my time spent studying analytical chemistry and analyzing human biological specimens was especially formative. My research experiences and my lifelong experience as a type 1 Diabetic inspired me to pursue The Ohio State University's Medical Scientist Training Program and ultimately a career in academic medicine.

I am from Cincinnati, Ohio where I also attended the University of Cincinnati. At UC, I studied Biological Sciences with a Biomedical concentration. During my undergraduate years, I had the honor to become a McNair Scholar. Through this experience I performed research regarding Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in the lab of Dr. Rohit Kohli. I also had the opportunity to work on a research project regarding peptic ulcers in the lab of Dr. Marshall Montrose at UC’s College of Medicine. In April of 2017, I earned my Bachelor of Science degree, and later joined the Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. As a PREP Scholar, in the lab of Dr. Maria Hatzoglou, I investigated roles of various factors and regulatory proteins, linking hypertonic-stress to inflammatory diseases. These research experiences have fed and confirmed my desire to continue in a career of biomedical research. I am most interested in investigating human disease through the view of microbial pathogenesis. I am excited to be a part of the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program and to work under the mentorship and training of the august faculty and alongside the diligent students.

I attended Michigan State University with a double major in chemistry and biochemistry and a minor in computer science. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in the Fall of 2015. In August of 2014, I began a project with Dr. Robert Abramovitch who researches the pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. My project focused on finding new pathways and compounds from a high-throughput screen that could be used for treatment in M. tuberculosis infections. This work could lead to new and much needed antibiotic treatments of M. tuberculosis. As a part of my work, I have also begun learning bioinformatics in order to manage and manipulate large genomic data sets, an increasingly important skill in microbiology. Through my work at MSU, I have gained a strong interest in human disease and I would like to be able to use my research experience to pursue a career researching ways to develop targeted, faster, and less expensive treatments for human disease.

I was born in Columbus and raised 15 minutes away from Ohio State, thus I have always been a Buckeye at heart. In my junior year of high school, I joined a BioScience Technologies program where I learned principles of microbiology and immunology, and biomedical science concepts. Most notably, I developed and presented a research project, and my success and passion for this work pushed me to further my education and receive my bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from The Ohio State University in May 2021. As an undergraduate, I earned a position in the Ohio State Marching Band and due to the responsibilities I took on as a member of the Student Advisory Council and as a Squad Leader within the band to develop myself as a leader and musician, I began collegiate-level research in the Spring semester of my sophomore year. I first had the opportunity to work in a molecular genetics laboratory under Dr. Helen Chamberlin. This project focused on the study of cell-signaling genes within nematode species, and I sought to differentiate between two homologous genes. In my third year I began work at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital under Dr. Kevin Mason in the Microbial Pathogenesis Department. Here, I studied the microevolution of Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae and its ability to effectively survive and persist within the host. My project aimed to elucidate the effect of the tryptophan biosynthesis mechanism on the formation of intracellular bacterial communities. These studies made progress in determining potential metabolic targets for the development of therapeutics to treat otitis media. I am inspired to pursue research in the biomedical sciences, particularly in microbial pathogenesis, and am looking forward to my growth as a research scientist alongside my peers in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at The Ohio State University.

I was born outside of Orlando, Florida, and my family moved around before settling in Franklin, Tennessee for my middle school and high school career. I attended Hendrix College, a small liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas, for a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry with a minor in Biology. While at Hendrix College, I participated in research with Dr. Andres Caro looking at oxidative damage in the mitochondria of the liver. In addition, during the summers, I worked with Dr. Erin Hertlein and Dr. John Byrd to determine how the epigenetic modifier, EZH2, affects gene expression in acute myeloid leukemia here at The Ohio State University. My experience in cancer biology research inspired me to pursue translational research in a setting where I can see patients and answer the challenging medical questions in the laboratory. I look forward to my training here at The Ohio State University and developing into a physician-scientist.

Maria Ford is a proud native of Charlotte, North Carolina. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in Spring 2020 from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. She was introduced to research when she joined the lab of Dr. Misty Thomas at NC A&T. In her first year, she researched the influence of different media types on the antibiotic production of soil bacteria. During her second year, she researched silver resistance in E. coli by studying the CusS protein. Maria also participated in the Summer Research Opportunities Program at The Ohio State University where she conducted research with Dr. Renukaradhya Gourapura in the Food Animal Health Research Program. During that summer, she evaluated the antibody response elicited by a nanoparticle-based vaccine for the swine flu for pigs. Because of her experiences, Maria has developed a passion for biomedical research and looks forward to continuing her education at The Ohio State University.

I was born and raised in Nolensville, Tennessee, a very small but booming suburb of Nashville. I completed my Bachelor of Science in Biology at Trevecca Nazarene University in May 2014, where I played NCAA DII Women's Soccer for four years and ran Cross Country for two years. I then obtained a Master of Science degree in Biomolecular Science at Lipscomb University in August 2015, where I worked in the lab of Dr. Mary Sledge and Dr. John Lewis pioneering a project to create a genetic map of the feral pig population in the state of Tennessee. Feral pigs are an invasive species that can spread disease to humans and other animals, as well as create destruction to crop fields and riverbeds. Determining the link between the locations of these pigs and their genetic variation will help create proper management units in order to eliminate them. While at Lipscomb, I worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Dr. Kent Gallaher, and had the opportunity to teach the laboratory portion of a Foundations of Biology course. It was then that I realized I have a passion for teaching college-aged students who are eager to learn about science. Upon graduating from Lipscomb, I immediately went to work in the lab of Dr. Eric Skaar at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as a Research Assistant. Within my time in this lab, I worked on two main projects involving Staphylococcus aureus and nutritional immunity. One of my projects focused around studying the SAR (structure-activity relationship) between a gram-positive protoporphyrinogen oxidase and small molecule allosteric activators. My second project involved identifying essential amino acid residues required for proper activation of a two-component system that alleviates heme toxicity in S. aureus. Working full-time in a laboratory setting increased my motivation to explore science in innovative and unique ways in order to greatly impact the medical community, and I look forward to continuing my research training at the Ohio State University.

I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and moved to Lawrence, Kansas in 2017. There, I earned my Bachelor of Science in Biology with an emphasis in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Kansas in 2019. As an undergraduate in Dr. Liang Xu’s laboratory, I studied RNA binding proteins Musashi 1/2, and their up-regulation in colorectal cancer. We focused on novel small molecule therapeutics to inhibit the binding of these Musashi proteins to their corresponding mRNA transcripts. After graduation, I began conducting research at the University of Kansas Cancer Center in Kansas City, Missouri. There, I worked in a translational Hematologic Malignancy laboratory under Dr. Rekha Rao. My primary research project was focused on a rare and highly aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Less than a decade ago the FDA approved Ibrutinib as a treatment for Mantle Cell Lymphoma. However, being a kinase inhibitor, development of resistance is common. My job was to determine mechanism’s of resistance and test combinatorial therapeutics to overcome this resistance. My time in the BSGP at the Ohio State University began in 2020. My goal as a scientist is to develop new diagnostics and therapeutics that will enable us to hinder the processes of metastasis and uncover new approaches in the field of cancer therapeutics.

"I grew up in the DC area, and was fortunate enough to start working at The NIH after school during my junior year of high school, doing research on autoimmune diseases and the pathogenesis of opportunistic infections. I went to undergrad at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, where I majored in biomedical engineering and minored in mathematics.  While at Hopkins, I became involved in computational biology research before realizing that I really missed the infectious disease wet-lab research I had previously done.  My junior year I joined the lab of Dr. Diane Griffin at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, studying the immune response to central nervous system alphavirus infections.  While I am interested in all infectious diseases, my research interests are more specifically around virology and the host responses to viral infections.  When I’m not in lab, I enjoy reading, drawing, running, listening to podcasts, and baking/eating/finding new recipes."

I was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. I majored in computer science and minored in math at The Ohio State University and graduated in May 2020. During my undergraduate years, I was involved in research within communication, computer science, and biomedical fields. My goal was to analyze the physical and mental illnesses people encounter and find solutions to them using machine learning. During my graduate studies, I wish to specialize in computational biology and cancer biology for the development of drug treatments and the monitoring of the patients. I am working towards controlling cancer cells using AI as a foundation and am looking forward to participating in the BSGP program.

I am from South Elgin, IL. I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and graduated in May 2021 with my Bachelor’s of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a minor in Chemistry. I have just moved to Columbus to matriculate into their Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. I was a member of the Johnson lab at UIUC and studied communication pathways between the brain and nervous system, specifically in regards to how fiber affects this crosstalk. I am looking to join a cancer-immunotherapy lab that is focused on discovering new treatment methods and targets for anticancer pharmaceuticals. I am very interested in taking research from the bench to trials and with patients to truly make a difference in their lives.

I was born in Iowa but raised between both Iowa and Illinois. I attended Iowa State University for my undergraduate degree in Genetics. After my undergraduate degree, I took some time off and worked in the biotech industry before heading back to school and completing a master’s degree in biomedical sciences at Iowa State University, College of Veterinary Medicine. Since completing my master’s, I have been working as a research intern in John Engelhardt’s lab at the University of Iowa. In John’s lab, I perform pulmonary function testing in a ferret model for both cystic fibrosis and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and I have been working on building a WT ferret database describing the un-diseased lung state. Working in this lab has really made me enjoy many aspects of biomedical research, but research with a translational focus is what I am most passionate about. I am looking forward to working with the talented researchers at OSU and what I can learn from their mentorship

I was born in Newport News, Virginia and was raised in the adjoining city of Hampton, Virginia. I attended and earned my bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). During the summer of both my sophomore and junior years, I was selected for an internship at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s Institute of Child Health and Human Development at The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. I worked with Dr. Mary Lilly in an oogenesis lab looking at an RNAi Screen to find new regulators of the GATOR complex. The GATOR complex is one upstream regulator of the Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (TORC1). TORC1 responds to multiple upstream signaling pathways and amino acid availability in order to regulate cell growth, metabolism and the meiotic cycle. Mutations in upstream inhibitors of TORC1 are associated with cancer syndromes and aging in humans; therefore, the understanding of this complex is critical to many aspects of health and development. During my undergraduate years, I also participated in Track and Field and Cross Country where I hold the indoor school record in the 600 meter and was a member of the indoor 4X800M Atlantic 10 Championship relay team. I am excited about working with the talented faculty at The Ohio State University.

I am originally from Mentor, Ohio. I completed my undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University, having graduated in December 2020 with a B.S. in Biology with Honors. My previous research experience comes from the lab of Dr. Devina Purmessur, where I studied the cellular and molecular biology of the intervertebral disc (IVD). My project focused on the aberrant immune cell modulation and changes in the peripheral nervous system that occur during human and canine intervertebral disc degeneration. This laboratory experience solidified my desire to pursue a career in biomedical science. My current research interests are still focused in immunology. I am looking forward to working with talented peers and faculty as I continue my academic career in Ohio State’s BSGP.