Ellie W
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at Washington University in St. Louis
Expertise
Biology, Cancer biology, Genetics, Epigenetics, Genomics
Bio
Hi! My name is Ellie and I'm currently a graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis. As a student in the molecular genetics and genomics program, my goal has been to gain wide exposure to wet-lab techniques while my honing computational skills. For my thesis work, I've been studying the role of epigenetics in the development of acute myeloid leukemia and have been lucky to generate and analyze my own data sets capturing genome-wide methylation, histone modifications, and 3D chromatin architecture. When I'm not in the lab, I spend most of my time exercising, cooking, watching movies, and spoiling my dog! I'm looking forward to working with eager students who are ready to break into the molecular biology field and want to start building scientific perspective and skill sets that will carry them forward in college and beyond.Project ideas
Writing a fundable grant
Successful grant writing is an exceptionally important skill to have as an individual pursuing a career in science. It requires an ability to synthesize existing research in a field and identify gaps in current knowledge, while convincing a funding audience that your project goals are promising routes to fill those gaps. Early exposure to grant writing strategies and styles will be invaluable to any student, whether or not they continue on in a science carrier, as the root of success in this endeavor is clear, concise, and effective written communication. For this project, a student will choose research area of interest, spend ample time reading the primary literature, identify a topic of incomplete understanding in the field, and work to design a set of rigorous experiments to address that gap in knowledge. We'll look at successful grants and work to implement tactics of effective communication to leverage your research goals. Depending on future goals, you may be able to submit your grant to the appropriate funding agency with the intent of supporting an independent research project in you post secondary education!
