Student Profiles

Abigail graduated from Binghamton University in May 2017 with Presidential Honors for academic excellence as a Binghamton University Scholar and a BS in Cellular and Molecular Biology. As an undergraduate, Abigail investigated the genetic basis of environment toxicant susceptibility in Drosophila melanogaster under the supervision of Dr. Anthony Fiumera with the support of an Undergraduate Research Award. At the conclusion of her junior year, she was selected to participate in the Biomedical Research Apprenticeship Program at Washington University in St. Louis where she characterized glycolytic substrate metabolism and serine biosynthesis in several Osteosarcomas under the supervision of Dr. Brian Van Tine. Here, she developed an interest in cellular metabolism, metabolic remodeling, and bioenergetics. Hoping to expand her background in these areas, Abigail was selected for an Intramural Research Training Award Postbaccalaureate Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in June 2017. She joined the Lab of Cardiac Energetics where she investigated mitochondrial metabolism in the heart under the supervision of Dr. Robert Balaban. During this time, Abigail helped develop a novel method of transmural absorbance spectroscopy and differential, spectral analysis which enables investigators to monitor mitochondrial energetics at the molecular scale in an intact tissue. Abigail also employed these methodology to evaluate the effects of nitric oxide, a diverse signaling molecule, on mitochondria redox status and cardiac function. She will continue investigating mitochondrial function in cardiac physiology and pathophysiology as an NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholar under the supervision of Dr. Robert Balaban (NHLBI) and Dr. Mike Murphy (Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge).