{"id":1932,"date":"2026-07-17T10:12:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/?p=1932"},"modified":"2026-07-17T10:12:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:12:59","slug":"seifert-scholars-profile-savannah-tournear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/seifert-scholars-profile-savannah-tournear\/","title":{"rendered":"Seifert Scholars Profile: Savannah Tournear"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Savannah<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud835\udc16\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1d \ud835\udc32\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc2e \ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc28 \ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc12\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1f\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc12\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc2c \ud835\udc29\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc20\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc26?<\/p><\/div>\n

The Seifert Scholars program drew my interest since it allowed me the unique opportunity to continue working on a project that I was already passionate about. Over the summer, I was able to completely focus on my research without the undergraduate course load, allowing me to make great progress on my project.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\ud835\udc16\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2c \ud835\udc32\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc2e\ud835\udc2b \ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc21?<\/div>\n
My research involves the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, which is the leading cause of fungal meningitis and accounts for almost half of all invasive fungal infections. My goal is to better understand the role of C. neoformans\u2019 acetate and carnitine metabolic pathways during infection by performing single, double, and triple gene knockouts in these pathways. C. neoformans is a very adaptable pathogenic fungal species, and developing a better understanding of its metabolism can lead to the development of more effective antifungal treatments, which is becoming increasingly important due to growing antifungal resistance.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As a Seifert Scholar, I have had the opportunity to immerse myself in my research project, allowing me to learn new laboratory techniques and develop a greater confidence in my abilities as a researcher. I have also gained a better understanding of the complex metabolic pathways present in eukaryotic pathogens and a greater appreciation for the research process as a whole.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\ud835\udc16\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2c \ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc27\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc31\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc29 \ud835\udc28\ud835\udc1f \ud835\udc32\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc2e\ud835\udc2b \ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b \ud835\udc1f\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc30\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc20 \ud835\udc20\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc1d\ud835\udc2e\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc27?<\/div>\n
While I still have three years left until graduation, I plan to pursue a PhD with the goal of becoming a scientific researcher in the field of biomedicine. This program allowed me to confirm my love of research and served to solidify my decision to attend graduate school.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ud835\udc16\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1d \ud835\udc32\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc2e \ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc28 \ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc12\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1f\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc12\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc2c \ud835\udc29\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc20\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc26? The Seifert Scholars program drew my interest since it allowed me the unique opportunity to continue working on a project that I was already passionate about. Over the summer, I was able to completely focus on my research without the undergraduate course load, allowing me to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1933,"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932\/revisions\/1933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceweb.clemson.edu\/epic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}