Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina
I worked at Davidson College in the Department of Biology starting in July 2014. Up until then, I had been teaching Biology Lab I and II to freshman at Pfeiffer University. I enjoyed teaching but it was sometimes a challenge. This was a small private university that enrolls less than 1000 students and most are involved in athletics.
Some of my students didn't care much about science, so I had to come up with ways to engage them in and out of the classroom. The lab practical's always included items that they could hold in their hands. Many of my students were visual learners. There was a greenhouse on campus that I was able to utilize as well. I cleaned and organized this space for my students to grow plants from seeds as part of their lab project. They loved it!
I only worked at Davidson College for 6 months, but in that time, I learned how to genotype a colony of mice that were housed at the vivarium at UNC Charlotte. I would drive to UNCC every week to take tail clips for genotyping. It was nice to be back in familiar territory.
The lady that I worked for at Davidson College has a PhD in Experimental Immunology. She was trying to genetically manipulate the genome of C57BL/6 Mice. She wanted to fluorescently label their T Lymphocytes with hopes of following the development and maturation of these vital immune cells.
I have no idea if she ever got the fluorescent label to work. She is still studying T-cell development today. She is very interested in autoimmune diseases. Ultimately, the goal is to be able to control CD4 levels on immune cells in patients to correct for congenital or induced immunodeficiency and autoimmune disease.
More soon when I share my next adventure that took me to the Nutrition Research Institute in Kannapolis, NC where we investigated the effects of nutrition on brain and eye development.
Have a great day!
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