She is a Biology major with a History and Chemistry minor and an URCADian*. She was also a presenter at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). When she is not attending class or in Dr. Summers research lab, she is an Organic Chemistry Learning Assistant and Supplemental Instructor. Her future plans will include pursuing her MD/Ph.D. after obtaining her undergraduate degree.

Carly's research will explore the non-coding RNA molecules found in the 5’-untranslated region (5’-UTR) of mRNAs called RNA thermosensors (RNATs). RNATs are the regulated expression of the downstream gene as a function of temperature. She is interested in the RNAT found in the 5’-UTR of prfA, a transcriptional activator that regulates the expression of a number of virulence genes in Listeria monocytogenes, which is an important human pathogen. Other well-characterized RNATs, such as 4U, ROSE, and css, all have elucidated mechanisms. The stem of these RNATs gradually melts as a function of increasing temperature, resulting in a gradient of protein expression.

Read more about her abstract here...

*An URCADian is one who presents at URCAD.