Q: Please tell us about yourself. Where did you live before Seattle and what were you doing?

A: I grew up in Virginia and attended George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, receiving my BS in Biology. During my undergraduate education, I worked in a microbiome lab studying the effects of cigarette and e-cigarette smoking on the oral microbiome.

Q: What are your recent research interests? What research are you doing as a Research Assistant (RA)?

A: In order to have a better idea where I wanted to go with my career, I chose to work in a malaria lab at the National Institutes of Health studying drug resistance. That experience reaffirmed my interest in studying infectious diseases, leading me to apply to the Pathobiology program. My current research in the Kappe lab involves designing and improving Cas9 approaches in malaria parasites. This includes bacterial cloning and in vitro culture of parasites.