91制片厂

Emily Ray鈥檚 interest in marine sciences started when she volunteered at an aquarium near her Ohio home and fell in love with sharks. That passion was fanned through a high school science course whose college-level research component had students working in real laboratories alongside real scientists. Ray鈥檚 lab: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Her research: the olfactory learning behavior in juvenile sharks.

鈥淲hen I came to 91制片厂, I thought I wanted to keep studying sharks,鈥� says Ray 鈥�20, a 听in the .听鈥淭hen I took a course in neurobiology and decided humans were much more interesting.鈥�

But that realization didn鈥檛 change her course of study; it simply added to it. Ray also is majoring in and plans to go to medical school.

For more than a year now, Ray has conducted research on cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae, under the guidance of professor James Haney. An expert on aquatic organisms and the toxins they produce, Haney cofounded the and is the director of the . His research is funded by the . Ray learned of Haney鈥檚 work from her high school science teacher, Jessica Sakash Replogle,听who graduated from 91制片厂 in 1994 with a degree in biochemistry and is head of the Science Research Institute Head at the Summit Country Day School in Cincinnati.

鈥淐yanobacteria has been linked to ALS.听The toxins it produces are almost 10 times more toxic when they鈥檙e inhaled.鈥�

鈥淪he鈥檚 why I鈥檓 here,鈥� Ray says. 鈥淪he鈥檚 the one who told me to check out 91制片厂鈥檚 marine science program, which I knew nothing about. Then she gave me a copy of a 91制片厂 Magazine that had an article about professor Haney鈥檚 research, and now I work in his lab.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at how the bacteria is getting out of the lake and into the air,鈥� Ray says. 鈥淐yanobacteria has been linked to ALS.听 The toxins it produces are almost 10 times more toxic when they鈥檙e inhaled.鈥�

Ray鈥檚 focus is on individual cyanotoxins, not the large algae blooms she describes as 鈥渢hick, like a spinach smoothie.鈥�

鈥淭here are so many species, and there is still so much we don鈥檛 know,鈥� says Ray, who presented her findings at the Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) both this year and in 2017.

Recently, her interest in the toxins landed her an aquatic ecology internship with the . For 10 weeks this summer, the Cincinnati native will continue her cyanobacteria research at the Appledore Island lab, located in the Gulf of Maine.

With all the work that two majors require, Ray still makes time to volunteer. In addition to her roles as a career ambassador for the and as a COLSA student representative for the URC committee, she also has been involved with the and the 91制片厂 dance marathon that raise money for .

Additionally, Ray volunteers in the emergency room at . 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really good way to figure out if medicine is for you,鈥� she says.