University: University of California, Irvine
Hometown: North Hollywood, CA
NIH Research Project:
Cell Survival and Differentiation Signaling Pathways in Neural Stem Cells and Neuronal Cultures
Mentor: Ron D. G. McKay, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Molecular Biology
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
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This spring I graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Irvine, with a B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology and a B.A. in philosophy. Right from the start I took my classes seriously, but it wasn't long before freshman core courses robbed school of its excitement. Soon I was merely going through the motions, processing information and retaining it long enough to regurgitate it on the exam. In an effort to keep the experience intellectually stimulating, I took philosophy as a second major, but it was not until I got involved in undergraduate research that school truly became captivating and enjoyable. In my experience, research has been the most educational and stimulating environment in college. Since I have started working in the lab, school has gone from something I was involved in with uncertainty and hesitation to one of my greatest passions.
I initially started research under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Rose, studying the evolutionary mechanisms underlying aging in the fruit fly. Though it was a wonderful introduction to research, the large scale fecundity and mortality experiments that were implicated in these studies limited the amount of interaction and level of involvement that any given undergraduate could receive. Seeking a more intimate lab environment, I began to do research under Dr. Philip M. Carpenter, spending the following 2 years studying the effects of tumor microenvironment on breast cancer cell motility. Changing direction once more, I am currently conducting research as a UGSP Scholar at the NIH with Dr. Ron McKay, in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, studying signaling pathways involved in mouse stem cell differentiation and survival.
While at the NIH I will be applying to dual degree programs nationwide. |
