Kalyn was accepted into graduate school and decided to attend North Carolina State University where she will be working toward her Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry. She worked as an undergraduate in the lab from Fall 2009 to Spring 2010. To hear about her lab experiences in her own words, see below. We wish you the best as you grow into the role of an independent scientist! Best wishes to you Kalyn! – CD3
My name is Kalyn Brown. I was born and raised in Richmond, Indiana, where my parents still live today. I am a senior biochemistry major at IU. I will graduate in May 2010 and hope to attend graduate school in the fall. I have applied to biochemistry and molecular biology programs in a number of universities including Kentucky, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia, and Wake Forest University.
I started working in the Dann Lab in October 2008 as an undergraduate research assistant to a graduate student, Soca Wibowo. My major role in the project is doing protein purification using a variety of expression systems including bacterial, insect, and CHO mammalian cells. I have also helped in crystallization trials and have limited experience on the X-Ray diffractometer.
My time in the Dann Lab has helped me to identify my research interests in the area of proteins, specifically in determining their structure that will lead toward treatment of diseases. This is very similar to the project that I have worked on while in the Dann Lab. I hope to continue this type of research in graduate school.
As for career plans, I hope that my graduate school studies can give me a push in the right direction. At this time, I think the ultimate job would be working at the CDC or the NIH. I am also drawn to working in the pharmaceutical industry. I also have some curiosity about teaching. As you can tell, I truly have no idea where I want to end up in 10 years.
The College of Arts