Hello! My name is Ciara Himes and I'm a rising junior majoring in molecular and cellular biology, with minors in astrobiology and biochemistry. I have been working in the Baltrus lab for about a year now, researching horizontal gene transfer in megaplasmids. Not much is known about the horizontal transfer of certain genes in the family of megaplasmids that I'm studying, so my research aims to uncover the importance of one of these genes and how deleting it from the megaplasmid might affect the host's phenotype. Working in the Baltrus lab and being in the Undergraduate Biology Research Pro ..read more

Hello! My name is Esha Mathur. I am a rising junior at the University of Arizona. I am majoring in Biology with an emphasis in Biomedical Sciences, and minoring in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Since the summer of 2022, I have been working with Dr. Julie Armin to understand how policies affect cancer care access for individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDD). My time in Dr. Armin’s lab inspired me to do my part to aid this marginalized community. Last year, I began working with autistic children as a behavior technician. I have gotten to see first-hand the challenges individu ..read more

My name is Allan Paxson. I am of the Hopi and White Mountain Apache Native American tribes in Northern and Eastern Arizona, respectively. I am currently in my third year at the University of Arizona majoring in Physiology and Medical Sciences with a minor in Educational Psychology. My current research project is within the Cress Lab at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Right now, I am working on identifying compounds that will eradicate smooth muscle-invasive tumor cells using cell viability assays. In my free time, I enjoy working with student-athletes at the Kasser Sports Medicine Cen ..read more

Hello! My name is David Jurkowitz and I am a junior studying biochemistry and Hebrew. I work in the Wheeler lab, which applies computational biology tools to genomics, biological sequence annotation, and drug discovery. My current project looks at computationally predicting binding pockets in proteins, which is done through comparing measurements of amino acid sequence conservation with known or predicted structural data. Through my lab, I have learned to code in Python, manipulate protein structures with pymol, and run scripts on the university's high performance computing clus ..read more

My name is Ariel Cheng and I am a junior majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a minor in Theater. I have been working with Dr. Jana U'Ren at the BIO5 institute on campus for almost a year now. With her lab, I have been able to travel to Toolik Field Station, an isolated research station in Alaska, where I conducted fieldwork for my independent project! I am currently working on identifying the fungal community found in Alaskan wild berries. These berries benefit both indigenous people and native wildlife. With my project, I hope to raise more awareness about how the ..read more

Hello! My name is Christopher Sterzinar, and I am a Senior majoring in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona. I work in Dr. Carol Barnes' lab, where we focus on understanding how the brain changes across the course of aging and how this influences the processes of learning and memory. My current project involves identifying the age-related differences in brain activity between young and old rats as they complete a cognitive task. In my time outside of the lab, I enjoy baking, drawing, and hanging out and chatting with friends. Additionally, I organize gaming ..read more

Hi there, my name is Ryan Bowser and I'm currently an undergraduate studying Molecular and Cellular Biology, with a minor in Biochemistry. I joined Dr. Carol Gregorio's lab through the Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP), and I immediately fell in love with our research! The Gregorio lab studies interactions of cardiac muscle proteins such as leiomodin (Lmod), to better understand the regulation of muscle contractions. Although it can sound complicated, we are really just trying to better understand how our hearts work, so we can help more people with cardiovascul ..read more

My name is Alexis Henderson, and I am a Junior majoring in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona. On campus, I volunteer in the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center (ASTEC), work as an Athletic Training Technician with McKale Center, and perform research. I have been researching biomechanics with Dr. Kristen Renner for over a year, and participated in the Undergraduate Biology Research Program through her lab during the past summer. In the lab, I use motion capture to gather kinetic and kinematic data on human movement, which can then be analyzed and appli ..read more

My name is Summer Blunk and I am a current senior undergraduate in the department of molecular and cellular biology. I am originally from Southern California and moved to Tucson for college. Some of my hobbies include cooking, dirt bike riding, off roading and playing video games. I originally came to UA as a biomedical engineering major, but within my first year I realized I was much more interested in Biology than the engineering. I changed my major to MCB and have been excited about Biology ever since. I currently work in the Nagy lab on campus and we are most inter ..read more

Hello, my name is Jacqueline Larson and I am currently a junior majoring in Public Health with a minor in Studio Art. In high school, I had a lot of fun planning and participating in community events in my hometown Nogales, Arizona. I designed and helped paint a mural in a newly built community center in Winchester Heights, and collaborated with the local art gallery at an event my high school healthcare club hosted that’s purpose was to improve communication between teens and their parents. Through this, I realized that I wanted to pursue a career in which I would help improve the lives of ot ..read more