Five West Virginia Wesleyan seniors will participate in research projects this summer through grants from the West Virginia Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (WV-INBRE).  Thirty students from colleges and universities throughout the state were selected and the five from Wesleyan represent the largest contingent from any single institution.

The five include Danielle Carroll, a biology major from Barboursville, Ryan Busch, a biology major from Cross Lanes, Megan Docherty, a chemistry major from Grafton, Chris Garton, a biology and chemistry major from Jane Lew, and Dana Tiberio, a biology major from Weirton.

Carroll will work with Dr. Hongwei Yu, a member of the department of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at Marshall University.  Busch, Docherty, Garton, and Tiberio will complete their internships at the Robert C. Byrd Sciences Center at West Virginia University.

Busch and Garton will work in the department of microbiology, immunology, and cell biology at WVU.  Busch’s mentor will be Dr. Chris Cuff, while Garton will work with Dr. Slawomir Lukomski.  Docherty will intern with Dr. Steve Always from the department of exercise physiology and Tiberio will work with Dr. Linda Vona-Davis in the department of surgery at WVU.

“These are extremely talented Wesleyan students and they will benefit significantly from this intense and in-depth research experience,” says Dr. Larry Parsons, interim dean of the College.  “We are especially pleased that we have placed more students in the WV-INBRE program than any other college or university in the state.”

Dr. Luke Huggins, assistant professor of biology, also received a summer fellowship.  Dr. Huggins will work with Dr. Scott Week, a member of the department of neurobiology and anatomy at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center in Morgantown.

The WV-INBRE program is funded by the National Institute for Health’s Institutional Development Program and is a project of the West Virginia Experimental Project to stimulate competitive research (WV-EPSCoR).  Its mission is to establish a consortium among selected institutions of higher education in the state of West Virginia to enhance their capacity for educating and training their faculty and students in biomedical research.