What brought you to the Coon lab and UW-Madison?

Before coming to graduate school I was interested in drug discovery—probing diseases and disease mechanisms. As I got deeper into this work I came to find we understand little of the underlying biology. That’s how I became interested in mass spectrometry, as a tool for profiling what’s happening in metabolites, and seeing different protein expressions or differences in gene regulation, for example. I came to the Coon Lab to learn more about how MS could be applied to these biological problems. In fact I was fortunate enough to work in the lab over the summer on a Vitamin D project.

From a lab culture perspective, even from the visitation weekend I noticed how happy and talkative the group is. There are a lot of driven people here, but everyone understands that the research produced by the lab will be better with everyone working together and seeing themselves as part of the bigger picture. It’s an ideal environment to work in. Madison has also been great. It’s a super friendly and livable city.

What kind of work are you interested in doing in the future?

I decided on a career in industry, but one thing that is great for graduates of the Coon lab is that they have many options open to them when they graduate. That kind of flexibility is something that I really value.