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I’ve lived in North Carolina
for most of my life. I attended North
Carolina State University, home of the mighty Wolfpack,
and received my bachelor’s degree in Biological
Sciences in 1997. I worked as a technician at the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Duke
University before coming here to UNC in the summer of 2002. I
became a full-time student in the Fall of 2004. I work in the lab of Dr.
Joan Taylor, studying the role of a non-receptor tyrosine kinase, Focal
Adhesion Kinase (FAK), in cardiac hypertrophy and cardiac development.
FAK serves both a structural and signaling role in the cell, linking the
extra-cellular matrix to the actin cytoskeleton. We are preparing to publish
evidence that cardiac hypertrophy can be blocked by a cardiac-specific
deletion of the FAK gene in mice. FAK is also required for normal development
of the mouse embryo and we have recently developed an animal model that
suggests that FAK is specifically required in the heart for normal cardiac
development.
When I’m not studying or working
in the lab, I try to make time to shoot pool and drink beer. I also
enjoy homebrewing and helping old ladies with their groceries. I often
spend my evenings regaling friends with tales of epic voyages, swashbuckling,
and episodes of merriment and tomfoolery during my time as an admiral in
the Merchant Marines. I’ve been known in some cases to totally flip
out and I understand the notion of Real
Ultimate Power.
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