Morgan Mcdonough Email and Phone Number

To be eligible for this role, one must be in good academic standing and have a WMPG of 85 or above.As a cohort leader you are required to: Welcome and communicate with assigned AEP students, Facilitate a discussion with cohort during the AEP Welcome session, Serve as the facilitator for cohort during the Smart Start Training and Approach to FTM sessions during orientation, Discuss initial adjustment to SGU and share advice and encouragement regarding the transition, Serve as a mentor during the semester.As an AEP facilitator you are required to: Complete the facilitation training module and attend a facilitation training workshop, Facilitate the closed AEP Peer Learning Group for AEP cohort each week as well as be comfortable with and able to review all BPM1 course material (Anatomy, Biochemistry, Histology, Genetics & Physiology).

“Optimizing sample collection for human mycobiome analysis”The microbiome is the population of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa that live on and in an organism. The human microbiome has been shown to be important for nutrition and immunity and changes in the microbiome can be indicative of different disease states. While the best studied component of the human microbiome is the bacteria, we are interested in the fungal component or mycobiome. A class project to study the mycobiomes of humans and their pets resulted in the collection of far fewer fungi than expected. The goal of my project is to determine the optimal method for collecting fungal samples from humans for culturing and DNA-based identification. The variables I will examine include site of collection, method of collection, and culture conditions. My goal is to optimize the number and variety of fungi collected as determined by colony number and colony morphology on agar plates. Preliminary results suggest that collection of fungi from the palm and nose is much more efficient using a wet swab (from either distilled water or saline) than a dry swab or placing the palm directly on a growth plate. The methods I develop will be used in an undergraduate research laboratory to analyze mycobiome diversity of students and their pets.Advisor: Dr. Daniel Ginsburg -- Immaculata University

During the Fall 2018 semester I will be acting as the teaching assistant for Molecular Biology in the laboratory. I will prepare and set up the labs as well as help the students conduct their experiments, helping when needed and answering any questions the students may have.

Currently I am taking part in a research opportunity through a SEA-PHAGES teaching assistant. In the lab, I am responsible for pouring nutrient agar plates, streaking bacteria onto plates, inoculating bacteria working cultures, and making nutrient top agar and chemical solutions of certain concentrations. I have a virus that I am working to isolate, and once it is isolated, the DNA with be extracted and sent off for DNA sequencing. Once that is completed, I will also be annotating the genome through bioinformatics programs such as DNA Master, Phamerator, HHPred, and NCBI BlastP. This research opportunity is sponsored by Howard Hughes Medical Institution at Janelia Farms, SEA-PHAGES, SEPCHE, and the Hatfull lab at University of Pittsburgh.

• Pre-Med Summer Program Internship• 100 hours total of clinical volunteering• Each week I will attend Monday night lectures to discuss topics relating to medicine in today’s world, as well as heard from nay different guest speakers• Each week I will complete a two-hour “Mobility Mate” shift, which involves walking patients around their floor to help with their mobility before discharge• Each week I will complete shifts in various departments or at offsite locations at a minimum of three days a week. These departments include and are not limited to: Emergency Department, CATH lab, bariatrics, oncology, cardiology, and pathology

• This summer, I will be shadowing Dr. Wellington Davis, M.D. who is a well-known Pediatric Plastic Surgeon affiliated with Drexel University College of Medicine and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children• This shadowing consists of doing everything Dr. Davis' team does: rounds in the morning, preparing surgeries and discussing plans with patients, standing bedside in surgeries, working craniofacial clinics, observing debridement and dressing changes of burn victims, as well as doing charts with the team at the end of each day.

• Pre-Med Summer Program Internship• 96.5 hours total of clinical volunteering• Each week I attended Monday night lectures to discuss topics relating to medicine in today’s world, as well as heard from many different guest speakers• Each week I worked at least one four-hour shift in the ER at varying times and days• A full day was spent in the optional OBGYN rotation, rounds were completed, and an emergency C-section was done• A full week was spent in the optional surgery rotation, rounds were completed pre and post operation, and as Abington does not have galleries, I was in the room to observe an aneurism repair, multiple colectomies, lung resection, thyroid resection, multiple orthopedic surgeries, and an open-heart surgery.

Currently I am taking part in a four week biology/virus discovery research course opportunity through SEPCHE. In the lab, I was be responsible for pouring nutrient agar plates, streaking bacteria onto plates, inoculating bacteria working cultures, and making nutrient top agar and chemical solutions of certain concentrations. I obtained a soil sample in hopes of obtaining a virus that I would work to isolate, and once it was isolated, the DNA would be extracted and sent off for DNA sequencing. I accomplsihed this goal and obtained a novel virus. Once the sequencing is completed, I will also be annotating the genome through bioinformatics programs such as DNA Master, Phamerator, HHPred, and NCBI BlastP. I have already annotated one other genome through this research opportunity as well. I am doing this in continuation of my independent research with a teachinng assistant at my school.