Newest Graduate Student Addition: Caroline Smith

Hello everyone! My name is Caroline Smith and I am the newest graduate student that has joined the Blackburn lab. I joined the lab in April, and I am now beginning to start my second year of graduate school. I completed my undergraduate career at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY with a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Biochemistry in May of 2017. After a great deal of contemplating, I ultimately chose to attend the University of Kentucky to begin my doctoral studies. I completed three rotations during my first year of graduate school and ultimately chose to complete my dissertation in the Blackburn Lab! This is a place where I felt immediately welcomed and knew I had found my home. The Blackburn lab is definitely fun, and we all push each other to become better scientists. Dr. Blackburn is truly the best mentor I could ask for. She allows me to work independently and think through projects on my own, while also encouraging me to go for new opportunities that come my way. I have already had the opportunity to attend two conferences with this lab (AACR in Chicago shown above and FASEB: Protein Phosphatases in Snowmass, CO). I am so lucky to have ended up in such a great environment, and I couldn’t be more grateful!