Education

Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH 2008-2010, B.S. Biochemistry, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA 2008

Biosketch

I am a first year GSBS student in the Molecular and Cellular Biology track currently in the rotation phase of the program.  My research background began during undergraduate school when I was part of the 2007 Summer Student Research Program in Dr. Calvin Vary's laboratory at Maine Medical Center Research Institute.  After obtaining a B.S. in Biochemistry in 2008, I moved to Hamilton, Montana to work for Dr. Steve Porcella at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH).  During my time in Dr. Porcella's laboratory I was a recipient for a 1-year Post-Baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award Fellowship, which was extended for a second year.  Dr. Porcella's laboratory provides state-of-the-art research technologies for NIAID's intramural infectious diseases, allergy, and immunology research programs within the Division of Intramural Research, NIAID, NIH.  My time working for Dr. Porcella enhanced my career in many ways by allowing me to learn multiple high-end technologies while working with leading scientists within the fields of allergies and infectious diseases.  My time can most notably be shown in the six peer-reviewed manuscripts I contributed to, as well as, a National Institutes of Health Director's Award that was awarded for being part of the group who identified the genetic cause of a previously undefined primary immune deficiency disease (see NEJM manuscript).  After completing my two-year fellowship award, I moved back to Maine in July 2010 and began working in Dr. Pradeep Sathyanarayana’s laboratory at Maine Medical Center Research Institute as a Research Technologist where studies have been focused on the functional and prognostic roles of microRNA in acute myeloid leukemia.  My first rotation was in Dr. Sathyanarayana's laboratory as a continuation of my time there as a research technologist.  My second rotation was in Dr. Vary's laboratory at Maine Medical Center Research Institute looking at the functional role BMP9 can have on endothelial cells in relation to the various extracellular matrix components, and the relevance to vascular disease, including hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT).  My final rotation was in Dr. Olgun Guvench's laboratory at University of New England School of Pharmacy learning biomolecular simulation software systems and utilizing these systems to observe interactions between CD44 and hyaluronan.  As of July 2012 I have returned to Dr. Sathyanarayana's laboratory for my thesis research.

Selected Publications