Seifert Scholars Profile: Jessica Mason

Jessica Mason

Jessica Mason

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๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ž๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ ๐’๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ฆ?
I was excited to continue the research that I do during the semester into the summer! This also was a great way to get more involved in EPIC through things like EPIC journal club and getting to know professors within EPIC more.
ย 
๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก?
I work with an African Trypanosome, T. brucei, looking for better drug targeting. My project in particular is identifying novel mitochondrial targeting sequences within these parasites for a protein of interest. This research is also applicable to other organisms within the Kinetoplastida realm, like Leishmania and T. cruzi. My project is titled โ€œIdentification of Novel Mitochondrial Targeting Sequences in Kinetoplastid Parasites.โ€
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๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ž๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ ๐’๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ซ?
Seifert Scholars was a great way for me to continue my research with the hopes of publishing a paper soon. This will help me better my application for graduate school. I also have enjoyed experiencing summer in the lab. I feel that it is a great representation of what graduate school can look like, which I hope to start in Fall of 2025.
ย 
๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐๐ฎ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง?
I will start applications for graduate school in the fall to get my Ph.D. in the realm of Genetics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cellular Biology. After getting my Ph.D. I plan on staying in academia by becoming a professor and a PI at a university.