Undergraduate Summer Research Education Experience in the Environmental Health Services

Undergraduate Summer Research Education Experience in the Environmental Health Services

My research involved the investigation of the use of hard and soft nanoparticles (NPs) and GAS bacteria to determine the levels of autophagy. Autophagy is the degradation of unwanted or unnecessary cellular components or other foreign materials--like nanoparticles. Furthermore, autophagy can prove to be a therapeutic success if NPs are able to escape the endo-lysosomal pathway--which would make NP's load ineffective--and instead, deliver the load to the cell as its intended target. My role in research was to procure and deliver the results of the experiment by primarily utilizing fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry.

Taylor Gebhart

Knoxville, TN