Hello my name is Caleb Cooper! I moved to Indiana at the beginning of my junior year of high school but before that I lived in North Carolina, Missouri, Maryland, and Wisconsin. I am currently a sophomore pursuing a B.S. in biochemistry with minors in biology and psychology. For fun I play soccer, play the guitar, write and record music, and I love to go hiking and canyoneering (yes that’s a real thing)! I officially joined the lab the first semester of my sophomore year and started work on my project at the beginning of the next semester. Currently I am studying a “spinach” fluorescent tagging system. When ready, it will be used to further our study of the M-box riboswitch, an RNA sequence used for metalloregulation in some bacteria.
So far I have really enjoyed being a part of the Dann lab and I am looking forward to doing research full time this coming summer. After I graduate I hope to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor and attend medical school. I am not exactly sure what I want to do just yet (not for a lack of trying though… I’m just interested in too many things), but at this point I believe that I want to go into a specialty more related to biochemistry such as endocrinology or even immunology. Also I am now considering pursuing joint M.D./Ph.D. degrees because of my experience in the Dann lab.