I am originally from western PA and went to undergrad at a small liberal arts college near Erie. Following graduation, I moved to California and worked at a company that manufactured, processed, and analyzed DNA microarrays. My experience in this setting led me back east to Johns Hopkins, where I worked under Dr. Sabra Klein on a project that examined sex differences in response to Plasmodium chabaudi infection in a mouse model. For the past year I have been working for Dr. Jim Burns as a technician in the Microbiology and Immunology department. Our lab focuses on the development of protective immunity against blood-stage malaria. I am currently working on one project that examines the vaccine potential of Plasmodium-infected erythrocyte membranes and another that aims to characterize stage-specific expression of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein-8. I am really looking forward to meeting all of the incoming students and beginning my studies here at Drexel!