I joined the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program in May 2016 after graduation from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and minors in Molecular Biology and Plant Biotechnology. In January 2017 I joined Dr. John Gunn’s laboratory in the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity. Salmonella Typhi causes over 21 million new infections annually and approximately 3-5% of infections become chronic in the gallbladder. Salmonella biofilm formation on gallstone surfaces has been demonstrated to be the primary mechanism behind chronic carriage. However, how the bacteria escape the host immune response in the gallbladder and establish this chronic infection is poorly understood. I am investigating the extracellular matrix components that are expressed in vivo during the establishment of chronic gallbladder infection and what role the components have in evading the innate immune system.

I am a general surgery resident at The Ohio State University intending to pursue a career as a Transplant surgeon-scientist focusing on refining benchwork concepts of immunotolerance/immunosuppression and translating them to the bedside to improve patient outcomes. To that end, I intend to continue my post-doctoral training by completing a PhD in Immunology. I graduated with a BA in Biological Sciences at Northwestern University in 2010, during which time I studied the use to diabetes susceptibility genes as gene therapy targets for type 1 diabetes at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, followed by time in clinical research on immunologic profiles of post-kidney transplant patients at Northwestern University. After graduating, I worked as a manager/research technician in a rheumatology lab, my responsibilities giving me a window into the other side of research and what comprises a successfully run lab. I completed my MD at Duke University in 2017, during which time I dedicated two years to designing proof-of-concept experiments using CRISPR technology to knock down cytokine receptors for the treatment of neuropathic pain. I continued to remain involved in clinical research, learning to apply my experiences with patients to develop research questions for which answers would have real functional effect. My medical training provides me with the opportunity to play a unique role in articulating the line between person and pathology, and I am looking forward to augmenting my training at the OSU BSGP program to learn how to create rigorous models by which I can answer my clinical questions and make a tangible impact on patient care.

I was born in Utsunomiya, Japan but shortly after moved to Dublin, Ohio. I loved growing up in central Ohio so much that I stayed local and eventually got a bachelor's degree in Biology and a minor in Cultural Anthropology for The Ohio State University. I have always loved science but started my undergraduate career ignorant of the joys of research. After spending two years in a lab studying the cancer microenvironment, I moved to a new lab studying the electrophysiology of the heart. My novel optical mapping of the human sino-atrial node and atrial fibrillation have given me the great opportunity to present my research at international conferences such as Gordon Research Conferences, Heart Rhythm, and American Heart Association. With a push from Vadim Fedorov, an outstanding mentor at OSU, I can not wait to further my goals at the OSU MSTP.

My current research investigates the mechanisms of atrial arrhythmias and possible treatments. Our research focuses primarily on sinus node dysfunction, the leading cause of pacemaker implantation, and atrial fibrilllation, the most common cardiac arrhythmia. We obtain explanted human hearts from the OSU Cardiac Transplant Team and rejected donor hearts from LifeLine of Ohio. We study the hearts functionally by high-resolution optical mapping during autonomic stimulation; structurally by histology, MRI, and CT reconstruction; and molecularly by immunohistochemistry and western blotting. By studying the heart at all three levels, we hope to elucidate the mechanisms behind atrial arrhythmia and develop cutting-edge treatments.

I was born in Iowa City, IA and moved around a lot as a kid. I ended up getting my undergraduate education at the University of Kentucky, graduating in 2014 with majors in Mathematics and Biology, along with a minor in Computer Science. My research during my time there reflected these interests, including DNA repair mechanisms, neurochemistry of addiction, and wound healing modeling. Now a BSGP student in Ohio State's MSTP, I am working in the Jeffrey Parvin lab. My current project is on a mitotic bookmark containing ubiquitin, which is necessary to reconstitute chromatin state in cells after mitosis. This work allows me to combine wet lab techniques with bioinformatics to better understand how this process affects genome-wide transcription and chromatin state

I was born in Central Ohio and raised in both North Canton, Ohio and Vienna, Austria. Following my graduation from Hoover High School I attended The Ohio State University, where I enrolled in the Undergraduate Biomedical Science Program and completed a Bachelor of Science in Health & Rehabilitation Sciences in 2015. Throughout my college experience I helped provide free weeklong summer camps for kids whose parents have been affected by cancer through Camp Kesem OSU, consulted the SAS institute, Federal Communications Commission, and Weinland Park Community as a Buckeye Leadership Fellow, and promoted the liberty of the physician-patient relationship through the OSU Chapter of the Benjamin Rush Foundation. I joined the lab of Dr. Gustavo Leone of the Department of Molecular Genetics at The Ohio State University in late 2011, and began a Pelotonia-funded research project in 2013 that I continued throughout my senior year. My project focused on the genetics of the tumor microenvironment and sought to elucidate tumor-signaling networks through a genome-wide screen in Caenorhabditis elegans. The project identified multiple candidate genes that, upon validation, could provide clinically relevant targets in the tumor microenvironments of Ras-driven cancers, and culminated in a senior honors thesis titled “Novel stromal-derived oncogenic signals enhance Ras-mediated cell proliferation,” research presentations at the Pelotonia Fellowship Symposium in Columbus, Ohio and Health Sciences Innovation Conference in Mumbai, India, and an honorable mention placement at the Denman Research Forum. In the summer following graduation I worked in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil at the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto under the guidance of Dr. Eduardo Rego of the Department of Hematology. The research project focused on the effects of post-sepsis on melanoma progression. My clinical experience include a summer internship in The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s Department of Internal Medicine under the guidance of Dr. Michael Grever, and a weeklong clinical research project on HIV/Tuberculosis co-infections in rural Guatemala. My research and clinical experiences have motivated me to ultimately bridge the medical and scientific fields as a physician scientist to create treatments and hope for individuals who previously had no viable treatment options. I have a particular interest in microRNAs in cancer and am excited to begin my training with the knowledgeable and talented faculty at Ohio State.

I was born and raised in West Chester, OH, a suburb of Cincinnati, which, today, is well known for its highly popular IKEA store. After graduating high school, I moved to Columbus, OH and obtained a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biochemistry and a minor in Evolutionary Studies from The Ohio State University. As an undergrad, I spent two years working in a research laboratory, studying the complex interactions between cancer and the human immune system, specifically the role of Natural Killer (NK) cells in tumor cell recognition and targeting. My project, which focused on the role of PTEN in NK cell signaling activation, strengthened my understanding of disease processes and fueled my desire to pursue a combined MD/PhD degree from OSU.

I was born in Denver, Colorado, and raised in Cooper City, Florida. I attended the University of Miami (Florida) where I majored in biology and chemistry and minored in mathematics. There, I was mentored by Dr. Athula Wikramanayake in an “evo-devo” lab where I studied gastrulation in ctenophores, sea urchins, and sea anemones. At first, I started my research experience because I wanted to go to medical school, but the experience of being the first person to ever see the biological phenomena I was studying and the knowledge that I could study just about anything I was interested in made me want to also pursue research as a career. I knew I wanted to do research on more clinically applicable models and so after graduation, I worked as a lab manager and technician at the University of Florida under the joint mentorship of Drs. Yehia Daaka, Thomas George, and Carmen Allegra studying combinational therapeutics in pre-clinical models of colorectal cancer. Receiving guidance from both physicians and scientists interacting confirmed that I wanted a career doing both. I thus joined the BSGP in 2015 as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) at OSU. I am now under the joint mentorship of Dr. Rosa Lapalombella and Dr. John Byrd as part of the Experimental Hematology Laboratory. Here, I am studying genetic and epigenetic factors that contribute to aggressive chronic lymphocytic leukemia and its transition into a devastating lymphoma known as Richter’s Transformation. Our group has extensive experience with drug development, in vivo and in vitro preclinical models (including a large bank of patient tissue samples), and clinical trials to treat adult leukemias. I am immensely fortunate to have such excellent mentorship from both my advisors as well as the rest of our laboratory. I know that I am receiving superior training as part of OSU’s BSGP and MSTP for a career in academic medicine as a physician-scientist.

The current assumption is that old age related tuberculosis (TB) mortality stems from poor immune control due to immunosenescence and/or the aging associated inflammation of the local tissue environment. How these age-associated changes impact M.tb pathogenesis is still unclear. To address the impact of aging on adaptive immunity and M.tb susceptibility in the elderly, we are comparing the functionality of relevant lymphocyte populations isolated from young and old mice infected with M.tb. Our latest data show that CD4+ T cells isolated from young and old mice infected with M.tb produce comparable amounts of IFNγ in vitro, an instrumental cytokine for controlling mycobacterial infections, suggesting that changes other than IFNγ may be important. Reducing lung inflammation with ibuprofen also improved in vivo host defense against M.tb in old mice, implicating a significant role for inflammation and oxidative stress in the increased susceptibility of the elderly to succumb to TB. We hypothesize that chronic low grade inflammation associated with aging, mediated by mitochondrial dysfunction, predominantly contributes to increased M.tb susceptibility in old age. The extent by which mitochondrial dynamics contribute towards the pro inflammatory status of aged lung in TB disease is unclear. We therefore aim to measure mitochondrial function/dysfunction of lymphocytes isolated from young and old mice infected with M.tb and determine their contribution to the increased susceptibility of the elderly to TB.

For my undergraduate training I attended the University of Minnesota Twin Cities where I double majored in biochemistry and physiology. As a college freshman I became intrigued by the highly synchronized and resilient biochemical program involved in DNA replication, and joined Dr. Anja Bielinsky’s lab investigating this process. Throughout my 4.5 years in the lab, I was involved in several projects and gained experience in yeast genetics, bioinformatics, and for my honors thesis, used CRISPR- Cas9 to generate a human knockout cell line for a DNA replication factor whose cellular requirement I investigated. Anja became an invaluable role model and mentor to me, and helped me develop great respect for what it means to do good science. In parallel with conducting biomedical research, I was involved in several clinical settings throughout college, completing EMT-Basic training, serving as a medical scribe and critical care recorder in the emergency department of a level 1 trauma center, and working as an anatomy lab TA. These experiences helped me recognize what a remarkable privilege it is to be with patients and people during extraordinary and vulnerable moments in their existence. I became inspired by connections I saw between research and medicine; first, that a rigorous understanding of our molecular circuitry better enables advances that make patients’ lives better. But even more so, I saw that the logic of nature and molecular symphonies we seek to understand in the lab synchronize and converge on astounding scales to create living human beings and patients whose emotions, experiences, and stories are an immense privilege to be a part of in medicine. Seeing the beauty of our existence as a fundamental connection between research and medicine forms the basis of my calling to be a physician investigator. I’m currently an MSTP student at OSU and have many research interests including cancer immunotherapy, brain and spinal cord injury, and immunology, particularly in emerging laboratory techniques and therapies that are well poised to comprehensively address the incredible diversity and complexity of human cells.

I was raised in Beavercreek, Ohio. I attended Brigham Young University where I was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in bioinformatics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian. I also completed minors in computer science and music. During my time at BYU, I had various opportunities which exposed me to different perspectives of medical research. In summer 2018 I was a bioinformatics intern in Riga, Latvia at the Biomedical Research and Study Centre studying prostate cancer using RNA-seq data. In August 2018, I began working with Dr. Samuel Payne in the Biology Department of Brigham Young University. Our project focuses on cancer mutations and their effects on the proteome and phosphoproteome of endometrial cancer patients. This project is in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomic Analysis Consortium. Our findings will be useful in precision medicine to customize treatments for individual cases of cancer. That same year, I also co-led a team of undergraduate researchers on a project analyzing drug reactions of breast cancer patients from the TCGA databank. We focused on varying reactions to specific drugs based on mutation as well as copy-number variants. These experiences have inspired me to pursue a career in cancer research. My specific interests include cancer biology, genetics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and machine-learning. I am looking forward to being part of this program and being trained by its exceptional faculty.

I was born in the southern part of China and but spent my earliest years in California and Oregon. In high school, I went back to Shanghai before leaving once again for the golden state to attend UCLA for my undergraduate degree. I obtained my Bachelor's of Science in Biochemistry and worked on various projects from studying drosophila hematopoiesis, neuron development, to anti-aging therapies with small molecules. In my last project, I studied the effects of alpha-ketoglutarate on anti-aging in C. elegans where it was found to increase the healthy lifespan of the organisms by over 50%. I started my undergraduate career with a sole interest in medicine and although I enjoyed conducting basic research, I desired to see effects of my research applied to medicine. With that ambition, I decided to pursue an MD/PhD. With my training here at OSU, I hope to be a part of the bridge between the bedside and the bench. I am excited to join the OSU community and to be able to be part of the exciting research and medicine happening here.

I was born in Xiamen, China, and moved around the U.S. until finally settling in Beavercreek, Ohio, where I attended high school. Afterwards, I completed my undergraduate studies in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. I knew I wished to pursue medicine since I was young but didn't realize I had an interest in research until my time at Vanderbilt, where I spent working at the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery focusing on preclinical studies in drug discovery and development in neuropsychiatric disorders and at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis focusing on the genetic basis of nicotine dependence. Such experiences were instrumental in my decision to pursue MD/PhD training. My PhD advisor is Dr. Paul Janssen of the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, and I will be studying the physiologic and molecular underpinnings of human heart failure.

I was born and raised in China and was admitted to Peking University in 2012, majored in Basic Medical Sciences. After Undergraduate Internship at China-Japan Friendship Hospital (taking clinical courses and assisting surgery), I joined Dr. Jing Zhou’s lab around 2015, whose major fields are hemodynamics, shear stress and atherosclerosis. My project focuses on how an epigenetic DNA methyltransferase, DNMT1, which may plays an important role in atherogenesis, regulates downstream signaling pathway under different shear stress. This work may be useful for finding out target to prevent atherosclerosis. Thanks to my background in vascular diseases and delicate animal models, Dr. Lian-Wang Guo recruited me to join his team as a research assistant at the Ohio State University immediately following my graduation as B.M in 2017. Given my expertise in animal microsurgeries and fluorescence microscopy, so far I have participated in 3 research projects, which focus on possible targets to prevent atherosclerosis and restenosis. My future fields of research interests will still be atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular disease sand I believe I will get better trained in BSGP.

I was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, and raised in Worthington, Ohio, one of the northern suburbs of Columbus. I did my undergraduate work at the University of Michigan, where I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Biomolecular Science in May 2014. Since graduating, I have worked in the Department of Radiation Oncology here at The Ohio State University, under the supervision of Dr. Kamalakannan Palanichamy. The focus of our laboratory is on Glioblastomas, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and our research works towards uncovering ways to improve modern chemotherapy and radiation-based cancer treatments. My project has focused on analyzing the change in expression and regulation of key metabolites in patient biopsy tumors that allow Glioblastoma to evade human immune response, while working to identify overexpressed metabolites required for tumor survival. The real world insight into a professional laboratory and overall positive experience I have had working at Ohio State has motivated me to pursue a graduate degree and career in Biomedical Research. Going forward, I am interested in pursuing research in either Cancer Biology or Genetics. I look forward to getting started over the summer and meeting my fellow students and staff.

Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, I moved to the Chicago, IL at the age of 17. There, I completed my undergraduate education at Loyola University Chicago, completing a B.A in French Literature and a B.S. in Chemistry. I completed my medical school education at Stritch School of Medicine, also at Loyola University Chicago, and was accepted as a resident in the General Surgery residency program at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center June 2014. I am a postdoctoral fellow, currently between my second and third clinical years, and I am pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Sciences program. I am interested in bariatric and minimally invasive surgery, and my research interests are focused in obesity and inflammation, disparities in obesity management and treatment, and surgical outcomes research. I am currently working with Dr. Hsueh to investigate the effects of bariatric surgery on the adipose immune environment.

I was born in Royal Oaks, Michigan, but grew up in Mansfield, Ohio. I attended The Ohio State University for my undergraduate education and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry. I went on to further my education at Georgetown University where I earned my Master of Science in Physiology and Biophysics. After graduation, I returned to The Ohio State University to conduct research with Dr. Karilyn Larkin and Dr. John Byrd in the Experimental Hematology Laboratory. During my two years in the laboratory, I studied the tetraspanin CD37 in Acute Myeloid Leukemia and evaluated its potential as a new target for direct therapy. My experiences inspired me to pursue a combined MD/PhD degree, and inspired me to use my education to conduct impactful research that will change the lives of patients.

I grew up in the Batavia, a far-western suburb of Chicago, and always harbored a passion for science. As an undergraduate I attended Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania where I completed a Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in chemistry. While at Gettysburg I was able to work with Dr. Ralph Sorensen in investigating autophagy and phagocytosis in B16F10 melanoma cells. In June 2015 I moved to Indianapolis and began work at the Komen Tissue Bank at the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center (KTB). The KTB is a unique bio-bank of richly-annotated normal breast tissue donated by healthy women, with matching blood and DNA specimens. At the KTB I was able to work with Dr. Natascia Marino on a number of exciting projects, including identifying molecular alterations in the breast tissue of young women with early menarche. Being a member of the KTB team gave me the opportunity to interact with breast cancer survivors and advocates, which inspired me to continue to work on cancer research with translational applications. I am excited to continue my education at The Ohio State University as a part of the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program and look forward to learning from the outstanding faculty and students there.

I was born in Houston Texas and raised in Beavercreek Ohio. I attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio where I obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant Biology and a Certificate in Bioinformatics. While at Ohio University, I began working in a molecular and cell biology lab, where under Dr. Ahmed Faik I learned lab protocols and conducted gene knock-out experiments in Brachypodium. Simultaneously, I took computer science and bioinformatics classes to complement my wetlab experience. After graduating from Ohio University, I pursued work and graduate study in the bioinformatics realm. This led me to pursue a Masters of Science in Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University. My research focused on RNA-Seq expression profiling and modeling in heterogeneous tissue, such as the brain. I had a very rewarding experience working in this field and am excited to continue working in the biomedical and informatics spheres. I have continuing interest in data integration, statistical modeling of expression profiles, neurology, and expression normalization.

I was born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I attended The College of William & Mary where I studied Biology and Psychology and earned my Bachelor of Science degree in May 2018. During my time at William & Mary, I also conducted research on the impact of environmental factors on symbiotic relationships, specifically using the relationship between the bacterial species Vibrio fischerii and their squid host Euprymna scolopes as a model system. Following my graduation from William & Mary, my intense interest in research led me to seek graduate training. I began pursuing my Ph.D. at Virginia Tech in the Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health program in the Fall of 2018. In this program, I began working with in the laboratory Dr. Ken Oestreich and will continue to do so as it moves to The Ohio State University. My research focuses on further elucidating how the environmental signals and transcriptional networks the differentiation of T helper cell populations. of immune This work is essential because the aberrant regulation of these networks leads to various autoimmune diseases and cancers. I am excited to continue this work at OSU and ultimately hope that this information can be used to develop novel immunotherapeutics for the treatment of human disease.

I was born in Brazil, but spent most of my childhood living in Helsinki, Finland. After graduating from high school, I moved to Columbus, Ohio, where I've lived ever since. I attended the Ohio State University for my B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering. As an undergraduate student, I was offered the chance to conduct research at Dr. Sameek Roychowdhury's laboratory at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and found that I had a passion for biomedical research. I joined Dr. Roychowdhury's laboratory as a biomedical informatics specialist, and spent two years involved in various projects related to cancer research. At the lab, we have a focus on precision cancer medicine, and have studied translocations and single nucleotide variations using both RNAseq and DNAseq approaches, computational detection of microsatellite instability from NGS data, and mutations that confer resistance to drug treatments. I have recently been assisting with the research autopsy program Dr. Roychowdhury's group oversees and have had a chance to see the extent at which cancer afflicts our patients. I have decided to pursue a doctoral degree in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, since I believe the program will give me the opportunity and experience to become a better researcher, and allow me to learn independent problem-solving and research skills.

I grew up in Newport, Ohio a small town in the southeastern part of the state. I pursued my undergraduate education at West Liberty University in West Virginia where I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in May 2016. While at West Liberty, I was able to complete 3 years of undergraduate research under the supervision of Dr. Joseph Horzempa. This experience cultivated my interest in research into a passion and prompted me to pursue a graduate education in science. I entered the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at OSU in 2016, where I eventually joined Dr. Jacob Yount's laboratory. In the Yount lab, we study mechanisms of host innate immunity to viruses, including post-translational modifications of innate immune proteins that are essential for antiviral activity. My current research focus is uncovering mechanisms by which innate immune proteins control inflammation.

I was born in Fort Thomas, Kentucky near the border of Cincinnati, Ohio. I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Hanover College in 2014. In 2013, I received a summer internship at the National Institute of Health in the Lab of Allergic Diseases (LAD). At the LAD, I studied mastocytosis and physical urticarias under Dr. Hirsh Komarow. This internship was my first exposure to clinical research and provided the opportunity to attend rounds, perform experiments, and present my work at the summer research poster day. This experience sparked my combined passion for medicine and research. In 2016, I obtained my Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology at the University of Cincinnati. During my final semester, I started a research project at the Hamilton County Department of Public Health to determine the need for needle exchange programs. This project involved reaching out to newly diagnosed individuals in the county and providing a brief survey to determine potential exposure sources, including the use of injection needles. Through these various experiences in medicine and research, I have discovered an interest in immunology and virology. During my time at The Ohio State University, I look forward to studying these fields at length alongside the passionate researchers and physicians here.

I was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics in 2014. During my time as an undergraduate I worked part-time jobs, volunteered with children in the community, shadowed physicians and made strong efforts to engage in research. I’ve always had a strong inclination for a career in medicine as a physician, but my passion of science and research grew during my time as an undergraduate and has reshaped my career goals to pursue both research and patient care. My current projects fulfill both my interests in protein biochemistry and pediatric diseases. I’m currently studying the attachment protein G of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in human airway epithelial cultures with Mark Peeples at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in downtown Columbus.