Here at MDIBL, we are very proud of our alumni and their accomplishments, both personally and professionally. Here are some recent highlights from MDIBL alumni:

Kentrell Burks, an REU student who worked in Dr. John Forrest's lab in 2003 and 2004, graduated from Morehouse College in 2006. He is currently working and studying for the MCATs, with plans to attend medical school soon.

Rachel Anderson, a 2001 Stanley Bradley Fellowship recipient who worked in Dr. James Boyer's lab, will attend Albany Medical College beginning in August 2007. Before returning to school, Rachel worked at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and spent time in the Dominican Republic working on a public health project.

Pearl Ryder, who worked in the labs of Drs. John Wise, Jonathan Epstein, and Denry Sato from 2001 to 2005, received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Chicago with honors in biological sciences and honors in The College in June 2007. In addition to numerous conmunity service projects, Pearl was a research fellow in a muscular dystrophy laboratory. Pearl will attend Emory University Medical School beginning in August 2007. She has been awarded a Robert W. Woodruff Fellowship, a four-year fellowship providing full tuition plus a stipend for other educational costs.

Steve Aller, who worked in Dr. John Forrest's lab in 1998, 1999, and 2000, recently earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. He has now taken a postdoctoral research associate position at the Scripps Research Institute, in La Jolla, California, working on cancer drug resistance.

Jennifer Higgins was an REU fellow in the summer of 2005 and worked in the lab of Dr. Alice Villalobos. In November of 2005, Jennifer was awared the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater scholarship. This scholarship is a national award granted annually to outstanding students who are pursuing careers in mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering. Jennifer's essay, title, "Isolation of Potential Antibacterial, Antifungal, and Anticancer Drugs from Marine Sponges," was selected from a pool of more than 1,000 nominees. Following her graduation from Middlebury College this May, Jennifer plans to pursue a career in marine biomedicine and marine pathology research.

Nishad Jayasundara, who originally came to the lab as an INBRE fellow in 2003 and worked in the lab of Dr. John Wise, is currently working as an MDIBL Research Assistant in the lab of Dr. David Towle. At a recent annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Nishad was given the Dorothy M. Skinner Best Poster Award for his work titled, "Salinity-Induced Changes in Isoform-Specific Na+, K+-ATPase Gene Expression in the European Shore Crab, Pachygrapsus marmoratus." Nishad also recently received a full, four-year scholarship to Stanford University, where he will begin his graduate work this fall.

Will Motley, who had spent the past five summers (2001-2005) in Dr. John Forrest's lab researching chloride transport through the protein that is defective in patients with cystic fibrosis, was named to the USA Today's All-USA College Academic Team, in February of 2006. He was selected from over 600 nominees. For this thesis work at Middlebury College, Will recognized a gene that controls meiosis in mice and causes sterility if there is a mutation. Last fall, he was also selected to receive a Marshall Scholarship, which he will use to pursue a doctorate in molecular biology at Oxford University.

Erin Wilkes, who spent three summers in Dr. Elizabeth Crockett's as a high school and undergraduate student, was awarded a full, four-year scholarship to Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in the fall of 2005.

Would you like to share some information about what you have been up to, since leaving MDIBL? Perhaps you have done some traveling? Went off to medical school? Graduated? Got married? If you have any updates (including pictures!) that you would like to share with the MDIBL community, please submit them to the Development Office. Thank you! We can't wait to hear what you have been up to.

Office of Public Affairs
Jerilyn Bowers, Director of Development and Public Affairs
jeri@mdibl.org
207-288-9880 ext. 105

Bonnie Gilfillan, Manager of Annual Giving
bonnie.gilfillan@mdibl.org
207-288-9880, ext. 106

Office of Education
Michael McKernan, Director of Education and Conferences
mmckernan@mdibl.org
207-288-3605