Congratulations to our research student Nick who graduated today and will be heading to Wake Forest for graduate school in the fall! Also great to see former student Ryan who took a break from grad school in Tennessee to come show support for our graduates! Good luck to everyone in their next steps!
NC DNA Day 2025
I had the privilege of volunteering at Triton High School in Harnett County for DNA Day this year. It was my first time participating in DNA day and I had a blast! I gave a presentation and hands-on demonstration based on the topic of pharmacogenomics for the biology and chemistry classes at the high school. I definitely have a lot of respect for the teachers who are working hard in K-12 schools day in and day out. Hopefully, I inspired some future scientists!
Read more about DNA day here:
HIPster Camel Podcast Feature
I was recently featured on the HIPster (High Impact Practices) Camel Podcast along with my colleague Dr. Michelle Thomas, speaking on the Howard Research Fellows Program and undergraduate research more generally. It was a lot of fun and hopefully encourages other faculty to get students involved in research. You can find it on spotify here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1bbPkIq0e1oWKjF3ttDbTA?si=3da156fc69aa43b9
Student summer research grants
Congratulations to Joey for being awarded multiple undergraduate research grants to help support his TAOK1 research this summer! He will receive $1,200 from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, as well as $400 from the NCICU Undergraduate Research Award. This will go a long way towards ensuring the success of the project!
Edna Queener Proffit Symposium 2025
We had a great time at our department’s annual Edna Queener Proffit Symposium. Rachel and Laura presented their research, and I gave the keynote address on the impact of a mentor. Additionally, Rachel and Inayat were recognized for their presentation awards at NCAS, and Nick was a co-recipient of this year’s Excellence in Biochemistry award given by the chemistry and biology departments. It was a great way to cap off the year!
I delivered a keynote address on how mentorship impacted my career and my life trajectory
Rachel delivered her research talk and was recognized for her first place award at NCAS
Inayat was recognized for second place at NCAS
Nick received the excellence in biochemistry senior award.
Great group of colleagues and sudents!
Howard Research Fellowship 2025
Congratulations to Joey on being selected as a Howard Research Fellow for 2025. Our project this summer is focused on TAOK1, a protein implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. This is a completely new area of research for me, so I’m excited to learn and explore something new! You can read more about the fellows program and the announcement for this year here:
ACS Organic Division Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Very excited to announce that Rachel was awarded a 2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry to perform research in our lab over the summer. She’ll be part of a nation-wide cohort of fellows who participate in joint professional development activities this summer and will travel to California in the fall to tour an industrial chemistry company and present her work. Congratulations Rachel on this remarkable accomplishment! You can read the announcement here and learn more about the program:
NCAS Meeting 2025
Another great time at the NCAS meeting for the Reynolds lab. Laura presented a poster on her Design to Data project, and Rachel and Inayat won first place and second place Derieux awards, respectively, for their oral presentations! Fellow GAINS member Ashley also won an award! It was a great weekend!
Wiggins 2025
The Reynolds lab had a good showing at the Wiggins Symposium this year, with Inayat and Rachel both giving oral presentations. Great job to all the presenters!
December Graduation 2024
Two students from the Reynolds lab, Sumiya and Alex, graduated this weekend! We’ll miss you in the lab but wish you the best in all the exciting things you have planned for the future!
