Researchers of Emory

Hayley Moyer  is a rising senior majoring in Biology. She was awarded a Summer 2018 Conference Grant which she used to attend the Experimental Biology Conference . If you’d have told me when I started college that I’d find a home in a renal physiology research lab by the end of my undergraduate career, I wouldn’t have believed you. I never in a million years considered research to be something I could actually conduct and present to others myself. While I’d always loved science, I was sometimes intimidated by its uncertain, always-developing nature. Three years into my undergraduate career, however, here I am with two solid years of research under my belt, planning to continue my investigations into my senior year and even possibly beyond. 

Wendy Zhan  is a rising junior majoring in Biology. She was awarded a Spring 2018 Independent Grant which she used to conduct research on single-celled amoebas under Dr. Adam Marcus.  When I first got an email back from Adam (my PI) saying that I could start going into lab, I was extremely excited. I had been assigned my own project where I was going to use Dictyostelium discoideum, a single-celled amoeba, to model cancer metastasis and tumor heterogeneity. As the only lab experience I had at the time was high school biology and chemistry lab, I expected that working in an actual lab would be a similar experience - that I would follow some procedures and get my results. However, as I quickly learned, I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

  Brandon Chen  is a rising senior majoring in Biology. He was awarded a Spring 2018 Independent Grant which he used to conduct research on proteins in cancer cells under Dr. Lawrence Boise.  Research is a constant interplay between breaking known knowledge and establishing new knowledge.  The molecular biology textbook you read today can be outdated at this moment when you’re reading this post.  These incessant challenges  of what we  know,  and the pursuit of  truth  are the motivations that drive me into research. I am curious about the cell, the grandiose interconnectivity that drives cellular functions, and molecular mechanisms that make a cell a cell!   

Birk Evavold  is a rising senior majoring in Biology and Chemistry. He was awarded a Spring 2018 Independent Grant which he used to conduct research on the protein Galectin under Dr. Sean Stowell.  Like many kids, my interest in science was piqued by the renown first grade baking soda and vinegar volcano. But why does this tried-and-tested combination make children love science? For some, maybe it’s the lovely smell of acetic acid, but for me, it was the unexpected results. Fifteen years later, unexpected outcomes still fuel my passion for scientific research.  Now, my research focuses on a carbohydrate-binding protein called galectin-1 and its redox potential.  Galectin-1 has many previously identified important immunomodulatory roles, but its high-propensity to undergo oxidative inactivation is the focus of my project in the lab. Though my work fortunately has not yet recreated the explosive effects that initially kindled my scientific interest, the scientific process

Yaw Kumi-Ansu  is a recent graduate who majored in Biology. He was awarded a Spring 2018 Independent Grant which he used to conduct research on Monarch butterflies under Dr. Jacobus de Roode.  I had my first taste of biological research in my introductory biology classes at Oxford College and my interest was built further in the research club established by the Biology department. This served as an avenue to discuss research from many different fields with Emory researchers and hopefully help us (students) identify labs or projects that may be of interest to us. It was at one of these meetings that I got the opportunity to meet  Dr. Berry Brossi  through a Skype meeting. I took an interest in his research into bee ecology and pollinator behavior due to the multidisciplinary approach of his work. Upon interviewing with him some weeks later to join the lab, I realized that though I had interest in his work,  I preferred something more related to immunity and disease.  Based on this