In addition to her research, Willey is a member of the Kappa Delta sorority, vice president of Alpha Epsilon Delta, a national health pre-professional health society and volunteers for Tigers4Accesibility.
In the future Sofia hopes to change patients’ lives through knowledge of under-recognized diseases. Doctors’ limited knowledge of the disorder is due in part to the EDS being under-researched. This has inspired Sofia to pursue a degree in genetics and focus on research while in college.
Sofia will be taking a deferral year and starting medical school at the University of South Carolina Greenville in 2026.
Senior biochemistry major Kristen Gulbrandsen placed 1st at the 20th annual Focus on Creative Inquiry (FoCI) event, which is Clemson’s university-wide poster forum that showcases undergraduate research, service-learning and other experiential learning activities supported by the Creative Inquiry program. Kristen’s poster presentation was titled “Enterococcus faecalis Inhibits Clostridium innocuum In Vitro Under Multiple Conditions.”
Many other G&B students presented their research at FoCI as well.
The Creative Inquiry poster session in the Watt Family Innovation Center on April 9, 2025.The Creative Inquiry poster session in the Watt Family Innovation Center on April 9, 2025.The Creative Inquiry poster session in the Watt Family Innovation Center on April 9, 2025.The Creative Inquiry poster session in the Watt Family Innovation Center on April 9, 2025.The Creative Inquiry poster session in the Watt Family Innovation Center on April 9, 2025.The Creative Inquiry poster session in the Watt Family Innovation Center on April 9, 2025.The Creative Inquiry poster session in the Watt Family Innovation Center on April 9, 2025.The Creative Inquiry poster session in the Watt Family Innovation Center on April 9, 2025.
Every year Clemson University College of Science recognizes some of its most outstanding undergraduate and graduate students during an awards ceremony in the Spring. Three genetics and biochemistry students were honored for their work, dedication and accomplishments at this year’s ceremony.
Brooke Dillingham: Outstanding Junior in Science
This award recognizes the best overall junior in the College of Science based on scholarship and character.
As a member of the Honors College, Dillingham started her research in Michael Sehorn’s laboratory as a Eureka! participant during the summer before her first year at Clemson. Her work involves evaluating DNA repair and genome stability through investigation of the BRCA2 novel binding sites. She has received research grants during her first and sophomore years.
Sehorn writes, “One of her strongest attributes is her passion and focus. These are attributes that demonstrate personal growth and maturity.”
Dillingham has participated in a cultural exchange in Germany and when she is not doing science, she is helping to promote it through writing articles for the Clemson News page and as a member of the Science Student Advisory Board. In addition, she is a mentor with the ClemsonLIFE program and a member of the Pre-Law Society. She enjoys fostering and training dogs from shelters, learning new recipes, reading, traveling and, of course, Clemson Football.
Dillingham plans to attend law school and work an as attorney in either health care, intellectual property or biotechnology.
Elizabeth Caldwell: Outstanding Senior in Science
This award recognizes the best overall graduating senior in the College of Science based on scholarship and character.
Caldwell is an active researcher in Sehorn’s lab, where she estimates she’s spent over 1,000 hours since arriving at Clemson. She is also one of 15 students chosen to participate in a special research project at Prisma Health that studied the role of surgical approach on cholecystectomy outcomes.
She received one of four National Scholars Program scholarships at Clemson and, as a part of this elite program, studied abroad in South Africa. Caldwell has also been named a Truman Scholar.
Alison Starr-Moss said of Caldwell, “She truly embodies the spirit of the Outstanding Senior, with demonstrable impact in every activity she pursues.”
Caldwell is the co-founder and president of Tigers for Accessibility, which serves to address accessibility barriers at Clemson. She is also the student representative of the University’s Accessibility Commission and serves as an Academic Success Center peer tutor and as the Inclusion Chair for the Phi Delta Epsilon South Carolina Beta Club. This fall alone, she has given four public presentations, including a TEDx Clemson talk.
Caldwell volunteers her time at the Clemson Free Clinic and as a hospice volunteer. In her free time, she enjoys hiking the national parks. She has visited 58 out of 63 of them. She also likes writing, baking new gluten-free recipes and watching science fiction.
After spending this summer as an intern in Washington, D.C., as part of the Truman Summer Institute program, she will pursue an M.D./Ph.D. in public health, which she will use to continue to bridge the gap between patient care, disability advocacy and scientific discovery.
Adam Gatch: Outstanding Undergraduate in Discovery
This award is given to a graduating senior who has performed outstanding original research in the sciences. Adam Gatch is a biochemistry major with minors in physics and chemistry with a 4.0 GPA over 158 earned credits.
Gatch has been involved in the research group of Feng Ding, where he uses methods from computational physics to study molecular interactions between proteins relevant to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. This research has resulted in five peer-reviewed publications, including two first-author publications, and five poster presentations.
“What sets Adam apart is his growing ability to independently formulate new research problems — an essential trait for a future scientist,” Ding said.
Gatch has also performed summer research at the Medical University of South Carolina using neuroimaging analysis to find predictive markers of response to drug therapy in Parkinson’s disease.
His body of work has already been recognized outside of Clemson. He is a Goldwater Scholarship recipient and recently became Clemson’s third Churchill Scholar and one of 16 nationally.
Outside of the lab, Adam serves as a tutor at the Academic Success Center, is a member of the debate team, works as an emergency medical technician and volunteers at the Paw Pantry.
After graduation, Gatch will complete a master’s in philosophy at the University of Cambridge before returning to the United States to complete an M.D./Ph.D.
Senior biochemistry student David Hess has been booed by 40,000 people at Fenway Park in Boston – he was pitching a bad game. This is nothing compared to the years of chemo and radiation therapy.
After David was drafted in 2014 by the Baltimore Orioles, he made his major league debut in 2018. He signed with the Tampa Bay Rays as a free agent, and when he was traded to the Miami Marlins, David and his wife moved down to Miami. David was having a good season when he gradually started to feel a bit off in 2021.
“I started having shortness of breath, my ribs were popping out of place, I had to see a chiropractor on a regular basis. I thought it could be stress or COVID.”
He started to get worse, his game started to suffer and one morning, he coughed up blood, sending him to the ER. David’s blood pressure was extremely high, so they admitted him, originally thinking the culprit was stress but still wanting to run some tests.
A Diagnosis
“They performed an x-ray and came into the room. They said ‘Do you see that big shadow over your lungs? That’s not supposed to be there.”
There was a pineapple-sized, germ cell tumor on David’s lungs. The tumor was pushing his organs around and his windpipe was at 15% capacity. The doctors were amazed that David had been playing major league baseball.
Germ cell tumors are rare. As a fetus develops, cells form in eggs in the ovaries or sperm in the testicles. Rarely, these cells travel to other parts of the body and grow into germ cell tumors. The survival rate is over 90%. However, there is a chance that there may be something lurking under the tumor that is unseen and unknown.
Nine Lives
David went through nine weeks of chemotherapy and responded well.
“I went through the treatment and the good thing about this is that germ cell tumors shrink down quickly. It went from a pineapple-sized tumor down to a baseball or softball sized-tumor quickly.”
In the winter of 2022 David went in for a follow-up scan and the tumor had grown – he feared he was falling into that 5 – 10%. They started him on a rigorous 12-week treatment plan. David stayed optimistic.
“Here we go – round 2. It’s not ideal, but let’s do this.”
On the last day of David’s 12-week chemo and radiation treatment, he suffered a seizure in the doctor’s office and stopped breathing for a short time.
“I guess I am using up some of my nine lives here,” David says laughing.
When the scans came back after the round two treatment in spring of 2023, the tumor was still present. David’s oncologist sent around the scans and biopsies to different specialists around the country and one came back with some terrible news.
“The specialist called back and said, ‘I hate to do this, but this is not a germ cell tumor – this is clear and definitive angiosarcoma,’ which is a much worse diagnosis. Where we were looking at a 95% success rate, angiosarcoma is basically the opposite.”
Angiosarcoma of the lung is a rare, aggressive tumor that usually spreads from another part of the body and originates in the vascular or lymphatic system. The specialist that diagnosed David with angiosarcoma did not have any positive feedback.
“He told me to basically get my affairs in order, it was that bad. But my oncologist and my team at Greenville did not accept that.”
Staying Strong
David truly leaned on his faith, his competitive and passionate nature and his family, particularly his wife, Devin, during these times to give him strength and hope. He also always knew the end goal was to live and to live playing baseball again.
“The idea of this beating me did not cross my mind. I am also a huge Star Wars fan so through this process I felt like Hans Solo. Never tell me the odds.”
The oncologist planned to perform a lung surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible, then David would go on to treatment with the ultimate goal of an open-heart chest surgery to extract the chest mass out.
Since David knew he was going to be home during the treatment after the surgery, he began to get back into the groove of things. He started coaching a travel baseball team and in summer of 2023, he enrolled in the biochemistry program at Clemson University and took Physics I and II online over the summer.
“The lung surgery went really well. In fall 2023, I started in person classes at Clemson while I was still doing chemo and coaching a travel ball team – I guess I just don’t know how to not do things.”
A Miracle Scan
The chest surgery was planned for right before Thanksgiving. A few days before the surgery, David and his wife went in for the pre-operative appointment so the doctor could get scans of his chest to map out the surgery.
“He came in and he said, ‘I don’t know what to tell you, we don’t need to do the surgery. The treatment wasn’t supposed to work the way it did, and something has happened in the last week since your last scan.”
The tumor in David’s chest had shrunk enough to where they surgery’s risks outweighed the benefits, so he went straight into chemo and radiation therapy again. By the spring of 2024, David’s lungs had stayed clear, and his chest was stable. However, by finals week, he had spots on his lungs again. David’s new treatment plan was six months of rigorous chemo and radiation therapy.
“A whole summer of treatment into the fall – I ended up having to take the fall semester off. I was down for the count. We get to the end of the treatment and my chest had stayed stable and my lungs were looking good. We thought this might have just been a Hail Mary.”
Third Time’s a Charm
David had his first post-treatment scan in October it was looking like the treatment had worked. However, it takes three scans to be certain that the medicine is out of your system to know it’s not a false positive.
David’s December scan came back good.
“Well, you get one more and that’s called a streak!”
In spring 2025 David enrolled back into courses as a biochemistry major at Clemson. His passion resonates over to his academics and beyond. After his grandfather died of cancer, David has been interested in working in the medical field, giving back. He was so excited to be back in the classroom.
“My passion is not just about performing well in the classroom but also helping the people around me just as much as my own personal growth.”
The last week of February 2025 David went in for his third scan and though they still have to keep an eye on it, the scan comes back with no evidence of disease.
“As of this moment I can say that I am cancer-free! It’s been a wild ride.”
David lives in Greenville, SC with his wife, Devin and their two cats, Stripes and Penny. He is currently enrolled in the biochemistry program at Clemson University, coaching a travel ball team, running a podcast with his wife called The 41 Life, is actively training to get back on the baseball field and is living his beautiful cancer-free life, constantly looking for ways he can help others.
Junior biochemistry major Gia Kennedy always knew she wanted to study abroad in college.
“In junior high I remember thinking about it and wanting to go to either Greece or Spain. After that, it kind of became a given; it wasn’t a possibility, it was something I knew I wanted and would be doing in college.”
This semester, Gia made those dreams come true through Clemson’s CEA CAPA Science and Engineering Program in Alicante, Spain. As a biochemistry major and a Spanish studies minor, this program fit Gia’s course of study perfectly.
Gia takes Cellular Biology, Plant Biodiversity, Ecology, and B1 Spanish at the University of Alicante. The innovative and dynamic University of Alicante (UA) allows you to attend class and activities with Spanish and other international students for an integrated experience. UA also offers modern buildings, green areas, sports facilities, a 24-hour library, a museum, and commercial galleries.
“After classes, I’ll come home and make dinner and will usually hang out with my roommate and have our other friends over or go sit on the beach and talk together.”
Gia typically spends the weekends in different places, exploring, touring and taking in new cultures.
“We’ve gone to small Spanish cities, Valencia, Madrid, Barcelona, London, and I just spent my 20th birthday in Switzerland! We always fly the cheap airlines so I’m usually walking around the airport in my nice dinner shoes and sweatpants and carrying an extremely overpacked bag which I think is funny.”
Gia’s family has even flown in, and they have visited Mallorca together. Other places that Gia has visited during her stay in Spain include Paris, Nice, Cinque Terre, Florence, Rome, the Canary Islands, Portugal, Amsterdam and Greece.
“Besides traveling, during the week when I have free time I’m most often at the beach. The beach is a ten-minute walk from my apartment, so I’ll go there and meet with friends to swim, tan, pass a soccer ball or just hang out.”
This experience has meant a lot to Gia, who is Hispanic and wanted to learn more about and immerse herself into the language and cultures in Spain.
“Overall, studying abroad has been one of the best experiences of my life and I cannot recommend it enough. I really love it here and already do not want to go back.”
Victoria Cipollino
Victoria Cipollino is a junior biochemistry major studying abroad this semester in Florence, Italy.
Originally from Northport, NY in Long Island, Victoria loves Clemson and participates in many different activities around campus.
“I am involved in bioinformatics research with Dr. Alex Feltus, America Reads tutoring, an FCA small group and Collegians for Christ.”
Currently, Victoria is studying at abroad through one of Clemson’s third-party programs, which are coordinated by other universities and study abroad organizations. She is studying at the Institute of Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence, Italy (LdM). LdM is noted as one of the most distinctive and well-established study abroad institutions in Italy.
“A typical day for me includes attending my classes in the heart of Florence, enjoying a cappuccino and cooking dinner with my roommates.”
In her free time, Victoria enjoys taking long walks and exploring the markets at Mercato Centrale, where she can find fresh fruit, pasta and sauces. She also loves traveling around other cities in Italy.
“Traveling by train on the weekends is incredibly easy, with so many nearby cities to visit. This weekend, I’m deciding between Livorno and Venice! Florence offers excellent public transportation and endless places to explore, making it the perfect city for my study abroad experience.”
Victoria is working to become fluent in Italian, and there is no better place to practice. For Victoria the choice to study abroad was easy and the choice of Italy was an easier one.
“I chose to study abroad because I love meeting people from different cultures and experiencing new environments. Italy, in particular, holds a special place in my heart, as I grew up immersed in Italian culture.”
Senior biochemistry major Mary Grace Flowers has been selected to attend the 19th annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference at the University of Pittsburgh on March 28-30th. Only 5 students from each university are chosen to attend.
The ACC Meeting of the Minds is an annual research conference celebrating undergraduate research and creative inquiry at the 18 Atlantic Coast Conference member schools, including Clemson University and seeks to highlight undergraduate excellence in research and creative scholarship across many fields.
Mary Grace will be presenting a poster titled “Examining the role of sex in bone remodeling using differential feeding stresses.” Her research investigates bone remodeling in the facial skeleton using a cichlid fish model because these fish have immense range of facial diversity and have shown a significant capability for craniofacial bone remodeling.
The University of Pittsburgh says, “The weekend of events is designed to provide students with the opportunity to share their work, connect with peers from other institutions, to learn from and with each other, and of course to have some fun!”
Everyone wish Mary Grace luck at the Meeting of the Minds later this month!
Senior biochemistry major Albash Kahan was awarded first place in the 2025 J.T. Barton Jr. Memorial Ethics Award, which recognizes outstanding students who show exceptional ethical leadership and a commitment to advancing good decision-making on campus.
Originally from Florence, SC, Albash chose our biochemistry program to help reach his goal of becoming a nephrologist. His passion for nephrology and internal medicine comes from personal experience, his family having dealt with diabetes and kidney problems.
Academically, Albash has been involved in the Hunting for Novel Antibiotics Creative Inquiry led by Dr. Min Cao in Biological Sciences; the Rutland Institute for Ethics’ student ethics committee, Creative Habits and Norms Guiding Ethical Decisions; and the Health Extension for Diabetes Program, a free, practice-tested program recognized by the American Diabetes Association.
After graduation, Albash’s aspiration is to pursue a career in medicine with a specialization in internal medicine and nephrology. He plans to attend medical school and hopes to one day establish his own clinic and dialysis center to provide comprehensive care for patients with renal disorders.
The J.T. Barton Jr. Memorial Ethics Award was established in 2001 by Stephan Barton in honor of his late father and supports students who could demonstrate a noteworthy understanding of the essence of an ethical dilemma, as well as excellence in strategic thinking on how to deal with the dilemma through ethical decision-making skills.
The award is given to a singular student and/or a student group on the Clemson University’s campus who pledges to use the award programmatically for advancing good ethical decision-making skills. Three awards are provided annually in the amounts of $1,500, $1,000, and $500. A panel of judges made up of the Rutland Institute Advisory Board Program Committee members determine award recipients each year.
This summer we shared a number of incoming freshmen’s stories with you. In this series we circle back to those students and see how they are doing now.
Maddie Smith
Since being on campus, Maddie Smith, genetics major from Slidell, LS, has thrived both academically and personally.
“I am in love with campus and all of my coursework. My professors have been nothing short of amazing and so willing to help whenever I need!”
She has become involved in organizations such as Alpha Omega Epsilon, a sorority that promotes women in STEM, a bible study through Catholic Tigers, the Genetics and Biochemistry Club and the Swift Society. Maddie is also part of a Creative Inquiry with Dr. Todd Lyda.
“My favorite class so far would have to be my CI research project with Dr. Lyda! We work to isolate Euglena cells in a gel strip using gel electrophoresis to make a reuseable battery. My lab mates and I are super close, and we love getting together outside of the lab for lunches at Schlitter!”
Maddie enjoys all parts of what Clemson has to offer: football games, snow days on Bowman Field, studying in the Harry Potter room on the second floor of the library and consistently making new friends.
“My favorite Clemson moment would have to be the snow day! Being from south Louisiana, I have only ever seen snow once at home! It was so magical and the most amazing welcome back from the holiday break!”
The past academic year at Clemson and in the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry has solidified Maddie’s future career goals.
“Since being in the Genetics and Biochemistry department, I have gained confidence in my academic abilities, and I have no doubt I will be prepared to take the MCAT and hopefully be accepted into medical school!”
When asked what her advice for incoming freshman would be, Maddie said to not give up when things get hard.
“It is not easy being in all science classes but finding a group of friends that know what you are going through and will help you succeed will make the world of difference! Shout out to my G&B girls, Kylie Wilson and Muara Korte, for being the best friends and study partners ever!”
Kylie Wilson
When we first met freshman genetics student Kylie Wilson back in the Summer of 2024, she was passionate about Clemson and studying genetics – neither has changed.
“The more time I spend here, the more I keep falling in love with Clemson. I feel like it is the perfect place for me to continue to grow.”
Kylie says her time at Clemson has not only met, but exceeded her expectations in many ways, forging life-long friendships and growing in her independence and self-confidence.
“Everyone who I have met here is so nice and eager to make friends. I feel like I can genuinely talk to and form friendships with everyone, especially people in my classes.”
Speaking of classes, Kylie’s favorite class has been her Biology 1100 lecture.
“I love learning about all the internal processes of the cell, and I am so excited to delve into those processes and the blueprint behind them in my future classes.”
Kylie has become actively involved on campus during her first year at Clemson, being on multiple committees within her sorority, Pi Beta Phi.
“Being in that sisterhood has been tremendously important to my college experience thus far.”
Beyond that, Kylie is involved in the Genetics and Biochemistry Club and the CHANGE Student Ethics Organization. This semester, she also joined Dr. Todd Lyda’s Creative Inquiry Lab, in which they are aiming to create a photosynthetic battery using chlorophyll harvested from Euglena cells.
Kylie has many Clemson moments that she holds close, but her favorite was her first game day. She loved waking up in her dorm and realizing that she was right in the middle of the action!
“I spent the day with friends who I had just met that week, and that day I met so many people who I have grown close with. I sat on The Hill, and the night game atmosphere was unmatched. I quickly learned all the chants and realized why people love the sports here so much – our school spirit is amazing.”
When we originally spoke with Kylie, she said that she wanted to be a genetic counselor. That plan has been solidified since her time in the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry.
“In my Careers in Genetics and Biochemistry course, we had a genetic counselor come speak, and that is when I knew that was the career path that I wanted to pursue 100%.”
Kylie’s main piece of advice for incoming freshman is to not be intimidated.
“College is very intimidating at first. It is super exciting, but the process of meeting new people and building those friendships while getting used to college coursework, can be daunting at times. My biggest advice is to challenge that intimidation head on. Work hard for those friendships and work hard to maintain your academics.”
Kylie also notes that you must not get complacent but continue to work hard to excel in every avenue you choose to be involved in.
“All I have to add is that I just absolutely love it here and anyone who is thinking of coming here absolutely should! There are so many opportunities, and it will change your life!”
When senior biochemistry major Ruxi Xia was shopping for colleges, she began to get worried that she wouldn’t find the place for her because she wasn’t connecting at any of the campuses she toured at. That all changed when she visited Clemson.
“Clemson felt like home as soon as I stepped on the campus.”
Ruxi is an international student from Wuhan, China that came to the US in high school and lived with a host family. After high school Ruxi was excited to learn that Clemson had a robust biochemistry program.
“I wanted a strong biochemistry program to set me up for success in cancer research as it has been my career choice since one of my family members passed from cancer.”
Now that Ruxi is here, she is grateful to have been exposed to many foundational science courses that she says will set her up for success.
“I enjoy my upper-level professors, who are really passionate about science and have made me a much stronger student.”
Ruxi is not only involved in her routine academics on campus; she is a part of many different extracurricular activities including the Clemson Light Imaging Facility (CLIF).
“I have worked on many independent immunofluorescence staining projects, learned to operate wide-field and confocal microscopes, and coordinated an imaging contest that receives entries from all over the world for that past three years.”
Ruxi also works in a bioengineering lab characterizing peptides to deliver siRNA for RNA interference applications in ovarian cancer, as well as using a 3D spheroid model to better study the tumor and has presented her research at five national conferences.
As a co-director for Clemson Paw Pantry since Spring 2023, Ruxi has enjoyed leading the executive team and spreading awareness for the initiative, tripling both the usage of the pantry and the number of volunteers. Ruxi is also a student tutor at the Academic Success Center and mentor for the Clemson College of Science Mentoring and Inclusion Collaborative (COSMIC).
In addition, Ruxi serves as an active member in student government, as the volunteer/community service coordinator for the Clemson Rotaract Club and as the president of the Clemson Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA).
“I have really enjoyed getting to help out the community whether that is helping at the Clemson Community Care, local farms, and other shelters in the community.”
Ruxi went to high school in Virginia and enjoys baking, cooking and spending time with her friends trying new restaurants and coffee shops. After graduation, Ruxi plans to either pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering or pharmaceutical sciences.
If you’re in the sciences, odds are you’ve crossed paths with Kate Doran. Maybe in your genetics or biochemistry or anthropology or engineering or chemistry or biology courses. Kate seems to be a jack of all trades in the College of Science.
Originally from Stephentown, New York, Kate is a junior double majoring in genetics and biochemistry with minors in social sciences, biological sciences, engineering and chemistry. Kate chose Clemson because when she toured “it felt like home” with it being a big school but with a small school environment.
Research being a significant part of Kate’s academic career, she has been involved in the Creative Inquiry + Undergraduate Research Program, Clemson University’s unique combination of undergraduate research, experiential learning and cross-disciplinary interactions.
“The opportunities available were unmatched, specifically the creative inquiry program which allows undergraduate students to do research.”
The title of Kate’s Creative Inquiry project is “Development of a 3D-Printed Millifluidic Device to Study How Bacteria Alters the 3D Migration of Breast Cancer Cells.” The goal of this project was to look at the chemotactic response due to soluble factors released by bacteria in the breast tumor microenvironment and investigate this through the development of a 3D printed millifluidic device to analyze cancer cell chemotaxis.
In addition to the Creative Inquiry Program, Kate participates in Dr. Adam Melvin’s chemical engineering lab, focusing on the 3-Dimensional migration of breast cancer cells within a 3D printed device.
“Prior to Clemson, I did not anticipate working or participating in an engineering environment, however the opportunities presented to undergraduates are unmatched across all fields.”
The research she has participated in at Clemson led her to obtain a position as a summer intern at the National Institutes of Health last summer. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.
Kate notes some of her academic success to the people she is surrounded by here at Clemson, whether that be academic advisors, professors or other students.
“As I move forward in my degree, each semester I meet more people within the department, and the community that biochemistry and genetics majors have is truly special.”
After graduation, Kate plans to pursue an M.D. or a Ph.D.
“Medical school has been a long-term goal of mine, and following the introduction to biochemistry and research, it was apparent the original plan could be expanded in order to better help others in the long run.”
