The Biology Department awards lab coats to students who conduct independent research
with faculty mentors and present their findings to other biology students and faculty
at the department's seminar (BIOL 491 and 492). The seminars are held on Wednesday
afternoon at 3:30pm in SIMS hall, room 215.
Congratulations to these students for earning their lab coats on November 20, 2019!
From left to right: Dr. Matt Stern and Dr. Julian Smith III coated their research
students.
Chandler Burt "Optimization of RNA isolation methodology for gene expression analysis of self-organizing
three-dimensional tissue structures"
Holdyn Ferguson "Optimization of culture conditions for the simultaneous recellularization of porcine
internal thoracic artery scaffolds with multiple cell types"
Nicholle Lewis "Optimization of Smooth Muscle Cell Culture for Blood Vessel Tissue Engineering"
Charlie Wolfe "Schizorhynchia: Their Place in the World of Meiofuana"
Congratulations to these students for earning their lab coats on November 13, 2019!
From left to right: Dr. Eric Birgbauer and Dr. Jenny Schafer coated their research
students.
Fatoumata Cisse "Gene expression of putative semaphorin 3A receptors in embryonic chick retina"
Shane Lacanin "Responsiveness of Chick Retinal Ganglion Cells to Semaphorin-3A"
Tyler Southworth "Effects of burning and raking on litter depth and soil characteristics in longleaf
pine savannas"
Congratulations to these students for earning their lab coats on April 3, 2019!
From left to right: Dr. Bill Rogers and Dr. Kathryn Kohl coated their research students.
Lexi Hall "What Effect Does Education Level Have on Student’s Understanding of Evolutionary
Theory"
Chandani Mitchell "Locating Mutagen-sensitivity Gene mus109 in the Drosophila melanogaster Genome Using
Deficiency Mapping"
Desiree Hood "Generating a Drosophila melanogaster mus109 Rescue Construct"
Miller Barksdale "Mapping Mutagen-Sensitivity Gene mus111 in Drosophila melanogaster"
From left to right: Dr. Matt Stern and Dr. Eric Birgbauer coated their research students
on April 17, 2019!
Noel Messick "Optimization of a method of nucleic acid extraction from three-dimensional hydrogel
cultures "
Anneke van Eldik "Three-dimensional printing in life science education"
Jeffrey Parham "Analysis of passive CLARITY tert-butanol optical clearing methods on florescent
preservation"
Congratulations to Ellie Abraham for earning her lab coat on November 28, 2018 - "In
Vitro Propagation of Schweinitz's Sunflower (Helianthus scheweinitzii)"
Congratulations to these students for earning their lab coats on April 18, 2018!
From left to right: Dr. Kristi Westover, Dr. Vicky Frost and Dr. Laura Glasscock coated
their research students.
Cameron Sellers "Cluster Assignment of Novel Mycobacteriophages Using the Tape Measure Protein (TMP)
Gene"
Hallie Smith "Using Microbacterium foliorum as a Host for the Isolation and Subsequent Annotation
of a Novel Bacteriophage Genome"
Victoria Deatherage "Induction of Apoptosis by Uncaria tomentosa (Cat's Claw) in Prostate Cancer Cells"
Cassidy Hess "The Effect of the Peruvian Plant Extract, Croton lechleri (Dragon's Blood) on PC-3
Prostate Tumor Cell Apoptosis"
From left to right: Dr. Kristi Westover and Dr. Pum Grubbs coated their research students on March 21,
2018.
Julia Scott - "Geographic Differences in Class I MHC-Specific Epitopes of Zika virus (ZIKV)."
David Bailey - "Impact of natural disturbance on the growth and survival of the endangered Schweinitz's
Sunflower (Helianthus schweinitzii)."
From left to right: Dr. Bill Rogers, Dr. Matt Stern, Dr. Eric Birgbauer, and Dr. Kathyrn Kohl coated their
research students on November 29, 2017.
Connor Amick - "Whether radiated tortoises in captivity at Riverbanks Zoo have established a dominance
hierarchy and, if so, what is the primary factor in determining an animal's position
in the hierarchy."
Melissa Barr - "Epigenetic modification of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) cultured
under traditional two-dimensional conditions and as three-dimensional spheroids."
Holly Owens - "Investigating Lysophosphatidic Acid (LPA) as a Potential Axon Guidance Molecule
in the Gallus gallus visual system."
Olivia Livingston - "Effects of thermal stress on the rate of nondisjunction in Drosophila Melanogaster".
From left to right: Dr. Stern and Dr. Birgbauer coated their research students on April 19, 2017.
Natalie Mseis - "Porcine acellular muscle matrix scaffolds support recellularization by myogenic
cells."
Victoria Leroy - "Validation of siRNA against LPA receptor 4 to analyze retinal ganglion cell guidance."
From left to right: Dr. Barak and Dr. Smith coated their research students on April 12, 2017.
Arielle Black - "Cancellous bone strength and stiffnes in health and osteoporosis, as 3D printed
models."
Jack Nguyen - "The mechanical properties of mice tibial mid-diaphysis is sex and age dependent."
Alex Corder - "Utilizing bioinformatics for the analysis of meiofaunal community composition."
Leigha Stahl - "Creating a microcosm to examine salinity tolerance of Escherichia coli in beach
sand."
Savannah Moritzky - "Phylo-group diversity in escherichia coli collected from oceanic beaches in South
Carolina."
Robert Landry - "The effects of heat stress on nondisjunction in Drosophila melanogaster."
From left to right: Dr. Birgbauer and Dr. Kohl coated their research students on November 16, 2016.
Garrett Driscoll - "Investigating LPA as an axon guidance molecule in chick retinal ganglion cells
by autotaxin siRNA."
Camerun Washington - "Investigating X chromosome non-disjunction in Drosophila melanogaster su(var)3-9 mutants."
Lab Coat Alumni
The department has awarded over 100 lab coats to student researchers over the past
10 years. Many of these Winthrop alumni matriculated into graduate and professional
programs and are now practicing scientists, scholars, and health care professionals.
We ask these alumni to send current pictures of themselves in their lab coats.
