Tessa Code is a graduate student at the University of Washington and she works as a technician for the US Geological Survey Western Fisheries Research Center. Her research uses hydro-acoustics and light sensors to study the effect of artificial light on fish predator-prey dynamics in waterbodies around Seattle.
Read MoreViolet Sorrentino is a cell biology graduate student at the Fred Hutch, where she uses microscopic worms to study communication between two types of brain cells. The conversation between these cells helps maintain a happy and healthy brain, and she is working to define the molecular language these cells speak.
Read MoreRasika Venkataraman is a third-year graduate student at the University of Washington’s Department of Lab Medicine and Pathology. Her research focuses on studying a specific hereditary mutation in DNA that causes blood cancers. She aims to investigate how this mutation alters the environment in which the cancer cells develop and grow, to improve the treatment of blood cancer.
Read MoreKeenan Ganz is a graduate student in Remote Sensing at the University of Washington. He uses specialized cameras on satellites and drones to study forest health and wildfire. One day, Keenan wants to build an improved forecasting system to understand when and where wildfire will burn next.
Read MoreRory does research at the intersection of computation and biology. Sometimes this means using DNA as a hard drive to store digital data, and sometimes this means using electronics to automate biological experiments. Rory has spent the last 2 years developing open-source hardware and software with the aim of making biology and chemistry research more accessible, efficient, and equitable.
Read MoreSonya Jampel (she/her) is a Master’s in Public Health Student in Epidemiology at the University of Washington. She uses large birth and death certificate datasets to analyze the relationship between air pollution and infant mortality in order to inform policy and prevention solutions.
Read MoreSamantha Borje is a Molecular Engineering graduate student in the University of Washington, where she works at the Seelig Lab and Molecular Information Systems Lab. Her research focuses designing massive networks of DNA pieces. She aims to use these networks as diagnostic platforms, where the DNA pieces would set off different chain reactions depending on whether or not a medical sample contains markers for disease.
Read MoreKaylin Ellioff is a Pharmacology graduate student at the University of Washington, where she studies different chemicals found in cannabis and how they can be used to treat chronic pain.
Read MoreElizabeth Bonner is a PhD student studying age-related blood cancers at Fred Hutchison Cancer Center through the University of Washington’s Molecular and Cellular Biology Program. Bonner studies the most frequent mutation found in a group of age-related blood cancers, collectively called myelodysplastic syndromes, to understand how this mutation disrupts the production of blood cells.
Read MoreLucy Bowser is a graduate student in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington. She works on a project that highlights how fishermen protect the diversity of marine life, a crucial component of healthy oceans and a healthy planet.
Read MoreRisa Takenaka is a graduate student in the Molecular and Cellular Biology program at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. As an ecologist-turned-molecular-biologist, Risa is interested in understanding how evolutionary pressures have affected, and continue to affect, living things from fruit flies to humans at the genomic level.
Read MoreEmma Scalisi is a graduate student at the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, where her research examines the relationships between small-scale commercial fishers and fisheries management agencies in Alaska. She wants to know how fish and people can benefit from listening to both scientists and fishermen.
Read MoreAbi Elerding is a PhD student at the University of Washington working to identify and isolate neuronal cell systems that guide behavior in health and disease. Her research focuses on understanding how GABA interacts with dopamine and its role in motivation and learning.
Read MoreMegan Gialluca studies massive water loss on planets in other solar systems (termed exoplanets). This process can turn a potentially habitable planet, like Earth, into a burning hot, water-less environment, like Venus. Understanding whether or not a planet has undergone this process informs scientists on where to search for alien life in the universe, and what the clues we should look for are.
Read MoreKate Van Ness is a mechanical engineering graduate student at the University of Washington where they research technology that harnesses energy from ocean currents and strategies for making this technology more reliable. Their motivation for advancing ocean energy technology is in bringing greater access to electricity around the world.
Read MoreLauren Sarkissian is an epidemiology student who will be receiving her Master of Public Health in spring 2022. She has spent her time at the University of Washington studying improved diagnostics for tuberculosis within the Cangelosi Lab. Her unique experience of studying infectious diseases during a pandemic makes her eager for an exciting career in public health.
Read MoreAlex Neitz is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program. Her
research looks at how organisms act as clocks to predict daily variations in their environment.
She is interested in how the modern environment affects the timing of these inner clocks in
humans to cause Seasonal Affective Disorder and what we can do to prevent it.
Miranda Mudge is a graduate student and researcher in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department at the University of Washington. She is studying proteins to better understand how bacteria influence and respond to their environment. Her research involves using proteins in bacteria as a tool for predicting harmful algal blooms.
Read MoreArena Manning is a PhD student in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at UW. By
analyzing brain activity and imaging the brain, she studies the role that different
interneurons (a type of neuron) play in mediating epilepsy.
April Lo is a genome sciences graduate student at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In her research, she studies what happens in lung cancer cells when there are errors or imbalances in genes. By connecting changes in genes to changes in the cell's messaging system, she hopes to better understand and help treat this deadly cancer.
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