对狼蛛的热爱
发布于2024年4月30日
When Jorjia Elmore graduated from Pensacola High School and was planning to enroll at the 十大彩票网投平台, her parents told her to get out of her comfort 区.
她做了，研究狼蛛.
在做一个 生物学 她的导师，博士. 杰森·斯特里克兰，谈到了一些 research done in his SSSTING Lab, which is short for Snakes, Scorpions, Spiders, Toxins, 信息学与基因组学. The genetic aspect of his research piqued her interest.
“我联系了布朗博士. 思特里克兰德想加入实验室，”爱尔摩说. “狼蛛 were the least scary to me, and nobody had a project with them yet. 第一次 I ever held one, I was terrified, but after working with them for the last three years 我已经麻木了. However, my mom was not very happy that I got out of my comfort 区 和有毒的动物一起.”
埃尔莫立刻迷上了研究. 她最美好的回忆是旅行 to the West Texas desert to gather the oversized arachnids for study.
“Going to Texas for sample collection was by far the coolest experience I have ever “有过，”她说. “I never would have thought that going to college would mean that I would get to spend two weeks in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert, staying up 直到下午三点.m. 捡各种各样的动物.”
A 生物学 major who plans to graduate in May before attending medical school, Elmore soon realized that her research translated well to her career path.
“这非常有益，”她说. “此外，由于对狼蛛的研究还很不充分， I developed a new technique for venom gland dissection. 我对外科很感兴趣 所以这对我来说很有趣.”
Elmore earned a Summer Undergraduate 研究 Fellowship, a 10-week program where 学生们在导师的指导下完成一个研究项目. 它的高潮要么是一张海报 或者口头陈述.
Seeing another opportunity to step out of her comfort 区, Elmore chose to give an 口头报告.
“She was nervous but did it anyway to face her fear of public speaking,” said Strickland, an assistant professor of 生物学 and assistant department chair. “一切顺利是因为 she practiced it many times and delivered it at an appropriate level for the general audience, even if they had minimal 生物学 knowledge.”
The presentation went so well that Elmore was selected to go to the National Conference 在加州长滩进行本科生研究.
Now, as she nears the end of her undergraduate studies, she is happy she took her 父母的建议.
“Undergraduate research has been an impactful experience,” she said. “我从来没有真正 saw myself doing or enjoying research, but I ended up discovering that it is something I really enjoy and will hopefully continue in my professional career. 我建议 to anyone to get involved in research to some extent, even if you don't think you’re 感兴趣.”
