Dr. Schalk is a cofounder and Chief Operations Officer at Enzyme by Design and Research Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago. She completed her BS in Biochemistry at Eastern Michigan University and her Master’s and PhD at the International Max Planck Research School for Molecular Biology in Goettingen, Germany. Her postdoc Dr. [...]
Dr. Harkas interest in research began when Dr. Aarti Raja introduced Tiny Earth to his freshman Biology I lab. This spark of interest lead to the completion of Honors Thesis under the guidance of Dr. Raja which was presented at the 2018 Tiny Earth Symposium. He graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor’s in Science [...]
The people of Exact Sciences are working to provide earlier, smarter answers in the fight against cancer. As an associate director, Scott Larrivee leads communications for the company's corporate brand, Pipeline business unit, and Research & Development team. He also creates strategic partnerships and corporate social responsibility efforts to improve communities and create a [...]
Dr. Bleck is Global Head of Research and Development at Catalent Biologics with overall responsibility for development and acquisition of new products and technologies. He received his BS and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and performed postdoctoral work at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign working in the areas of gene regulation and expression. Dr. [...]
Dr. Aarti Raja earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Maryland in 2000, completed her postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School and joined the faculty at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in 2012. She is an Associate Professor of Biology. Her areas of research include microbiology, and innovations in science education. Dr. Raja [...]
Dr. Kayley Janssen completed her B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wyoming. She went on to train in genomic technologies with the National Institutes of Health at Rocky Mountain Laboratories. Dr. Janssen completed her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Iowa where she studied post transcriptional regulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Upon [...]
Dr. Julia Nepper was raised in rural North Carolina and began attending community college at the age of 11. She graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with degrees in biology and chemistry, and after a postbaccalaureate at UNC-Chapel Hill came to UW–Madison for graduate school. She graduated with a PhD in Biophysics [...]
Hannah Pilch earned a Master’s Degree in Comparative Biomedical Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is currently a microbiologist at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene where her work focuses on tracking and understanding the spread of Sars-Covid-19 in municipal wastewater sewer systems throughout the state of Wisconsin. Her previous research involved 16S [...]
Dr. Davida S. Smyth received her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland and completed her postdoctoral training at New York Medical College, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and New York University. She has served as Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Natural Sciences in Mercy College’s [...]