Congratulations to the LabRoots 2018 Fall Scholarship Winner!

The LabRoots 2018 Fall Scholarship welcomed applications from students needing support for research projects, travel expenses, and training supplies associated with their academic pursuits in one of the STEM fields. We would like to congratulate Jennifer Bradley as this Fall's scholarship winner! Jennifer currently a part-time Ph.D. student and works full-time at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).  She began working in academia in 2008 and started taking graduate classes at that time to better understand the research that she was working on.  From the introductory courses, she found she really enjoyed Microbiology and Immunology and worked toward pursuing her master’s, which she completed in December 2016.  Thanks to her wonderful program director and her mentorship, she was able to begin her Ph.D. program in  Fall 2017.  She enjoys the opportunities to continue to learn within the academic environment from professional education, such as learning how to write grants, to the required course work for her program. She became a Ph.D. candidate in September 2018 and is now starting experimentation for her dissertation and defense. She really enjoyed learning about immunology and became fascinated with inflammatory mediators known as cytokines that play a major role in inflammation and disease. Her first job at VCU was working for a dentist that was studying women who had periodontitis.  He believed antibodies the women created from normal mouth bacteria when the bacteria were introduced to the bloodstream from sores in the mouth, could lead to low birth weight deliveries.  This project started her interest in cytokines and antibodies. Jennifer also participates in many clubs and organizations including Graduate Women in Science, Society of Critical Care Medicine, and the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society. The merit-based scholarship will fund Miss Bradley for one year, providing $2,000 in direct costs. LabRoots supports undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Our scholarship program is open to students both in, and outside the US; there are no geographical limits for applicants. LabRoots wishes to encourage all students to stay in science and aims to help students work towards their research and educational goals.