Ashland alumna is Postdoctoral Fellow in Regulatory Science

Following her graduation from Ashland, Daphne Guinn (Toxicology '11) earned a PhD in biomedical sciences from The Ohio State University, working in the chronic lymphocytic leukemia laboratory  of Dr. John Byrd and Dr. Amy Johnson.  Currrently she works as a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the Program for Regulatory Science and Medicine.  Daphne has written a blog about her postdoctoral work that explains her current role.   Daphne is working on a research project focused on using real world data collected with electronic health records to inform research studies that can improve efficacy and reduce the cost of clinical development for drugs benefitting patients with rare diseases.

Her mentor, Dr. Ira Shoulson, writes that “In Daphne’s relatively brief tenure as a fellow, she has launched a novel research project to advance experimental therapeutics for rare diseases. Using real-world data and rigorous statistical approaches, Dr. Guinn and her mentors are conducting research to facilitate the development, regulatory review, and approval of innovative treatments for diseases that share common molecular profiles.”

Dr. Daphne Guinn ('11) and her mentor Dr. Ira Shoulson

Geology alumna studies lead corrosion

AU Geology alumna Jennifer Miller Tully ('11) is conducting research to understand lead pipe corrosion to help reduce problems such as occurred recently in Flint, Michigan due to the corrosion of lead water supply lines.  Her lab was featured in a recent NOVA PBS special on the problems in Flint, and Jennifer appears in the video shortly after the 51 minute mark. After moving on from Ashland, Jennifer received a Master's degree in Geology from Miami University and served as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) research participant with the EPA Office of Water and Office of Research and Development located in Cincinnati before taking her current position.

Choose Ohio First Scholars complete summer research internships

One of the strengths of our Choose Ohio First Scholarship (COF) program is the large proportion of our COF scholars involved in mentored undergraduate research projects.  Each summer we provide stipends, room and board for several COF scholars to continue that work through the summer.  Over the past few months we hosted four scholars along with two other students taking part in research projects with four faculty members.

Biology major Kelly Murray began her research project at Ashland while still a Choose Ohio First scholar at North Central State College, a community college in Mansfield, Ohio.  Kelly did an internship with Dr. Mason Posner at AU before joining our COF program, and then joined his research lab.  Kelly just graduated this spring and will be entering the Molecular and Cell Biology PhD program at Cornell University in the Fall.

Chemistry major Corey Turpin continued his synthetic organic chemistry research with Dr. Nick Johnson this summer.  The photo to the right shows Corey analyzing purified compounds using our 400 mhz NMR.  Corey plans to attend graduate school to become a University Chemistry Professor after his upcoming senior year.

Two rising COF sophomores had the opportunity to spend their first summers at AU in the lab.  Biology major Julia Owens worked with Dr. Paul Hyman to purify and identify bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria.  Forensic Biology/Toxicology double major Maria Kern worked with Dr. Jenna Dolhi to collect and identify microscopic protists living in the waters of our Black Fork Wetlands environmental preserve.  Julia, Maria and Corey are pictured below, along with another summer research student, Forensic Biology major Matt McDonald, after giving presentations on their work.

Ashland University has hosted a Choose Ohio First Program since 2009.  These scholarship dollars are given by the State of Ohio to support Ohio high school students entering STEM college programs.  Our program has 28 graduates and will support 32 additional students this coming Fall.