This month, Haley emailed with the members of Dr. Summer Thyme’s lab who are moving from Alabama to Massachusetts this summer. Please take the time to read their responses and prepare to welcome them to our department soon!
Vaishnavi Balaji standing next to her poster at her University of New Haven graduation.
Vaishnavi Balaji (she/they)
Position?
Research Associate II
Hometown?
Nashik, India (moved to the US for my Master’s program at the University of New Haven)
How would you describe your project in Dr. Thyme’s Lab?
If I were to describe my project at Dr. Thyme’s lab in a sentence, I would say it’s confusing but fun. [In general, my] research interests include neurodevelopmental/ neuropsychiatric disorders as well as the impact of early childhood infections of the nervous system on neurodevelopment.
How did you get into science?
Growing up, I loved reading science books because of all of the pictures. I would point at random objects and ask my family about what the objects were. I first heard about biotechnology and genetic engineering during a lesson on Heredity and Evolution in 10th grade- I was intrigued by it and ended up being a Genetic Engineering major in college.
What is something you’ll miss about Alabama?
I will miss the sunny weather down here in Alabama.
What are you nervous/excited for about moving to Massachusetts?
I’m excited about continuing my work at UMass and making a lot more professional connections
What are some of your hobbies outside the lab?
Outside the lab, I enjoy watching anime and reading classic literature
Favorite kitchen utensil?
My favorite kitchen utensil is my idli steamer.
Jaqueline Amy Martinez
Jaqueline Amy Martinez
Position?
Research Associate II
Hometown?
Huntsville, Alabama
How would you describe your project in Dr. Thyme’s Lab?
My project’s goal is to identify if the VRK2 gene modulates sleep behavior in zebrafish.
How did you get into science?
I don’t think I had just one specific “a-ha” moment in that I realized science was the field I wanted to work in. For me it was a culmination of being interested and passionate about a lot of areas that all led back to science.
What is something you’ll miss about Alabama?
I’ll miss the biodiversity that I’ve grown up with and all my favorite hiking trails. Oh, and my friends and family of course.
What are you nervous/excited for about moving to Massachusetts?
I am excited and nervous to experience winter and snow in Massachusetts. We don’t really get much of either in Alabama.
What’s one of your hobbies outside the lab?
My main hobby is reading!
Favorite kitchen utensil?
My favorite kitchen utensil is a fork!
Dr. Anna Moyer
Anna Moyer
Position?
Postdoc
Hometown?
State College, Pennsylvania
How would you describe your project in Dr. Thyme’s Lab?
I study how the overexpression of chromosome 21 genes affects neurodevelopment
How did you get into science?
I joined a fly lab during my freshman year of college
What is something you’ll miss about Alabama?
My stitch and *complain knitting group
What are you nervous/excited for about moving to Massachusetts?
The cold weather!
What’s one of your hobbies outside the lab?
Watching the Food Network with my cats
Favorite kitchen utensil?
My titanium spork
Mary Elizabeth Shay Capps
Mary Elizabeth Shay Capps
"Mary Shay Capps is a graduate of the UAB Genetics and Genomic Sciences BS program. Following her undergraduate degree, she joined the MS Program in Multidisciplinary Biomedical Science (MBS), working in the Thyme lab, and graduated in December 2021. She has since joined the Thyme lab as a Researcher III."
Ari Ginsparg
Ari Ginsparg
Position?
I’ll be a 5th year PhD student this coming fall, coming from the Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics (GGB) theme of UAB’s Graduate Biomedical Sciences (GBS) program.
Hometown?
I grew up in Chesterfield, MO (part of St. Louis County), and was there through high school. Afterwards, I went to the Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) in Rolla, MO, where I got a B.S in Biological Sciences as well as minors in chemistry and bioinformatics.
How would you describe your project in Dr. Thyme’s Lab?
For my thesis project, I am evaluating the predictive ability of a drug discovery algorithm that I have contributed to the Rosetta protein modeling suite. As a test case for my algorithm, I am targeting a hypocretin receptor that is primarily located in the hypothalamus to identify agonist-like drugs that can stimulate the receptor and potentially remedy narcolepsy.
How did you get into science?
Growing up, my parents fostered an environment for me to appreciate learning, and I generally enjoyed things that involved math and nature. My mom would indulge in allowing me to take care of various bugs and amphibians in the house when I was younger. I first got hooked on learning science in a more formalized setting by my biology teacher when I was a freshman in high school, and later with my chemistry teacher. They helped prepare me to be ready to pursue my education further in college at S&T. While at S&T, I was able to gain a variety of educational experiences, such as a summer internship at the Butterfly House in St. Louis. I was also able to pursue courses in bioinformatics, which gave me the computational background to accomplish work on my thesis project.
What is something you’ll miss about Alabama?
What I will probably miss the most is the hot weather in spring-fall. I like it warm (high 70s - low 90s). I’ll also miss the many great hiking parks around Birmingham, and hope I can find similar hiking opportunities in MA.
What are you nervous/excited for about moving to Massachusetts?
I’m not looking forward to the cold and snowy winters in Massachusetts. Growing up in Missouri, we had cold and snowy winters, and I know Massachusetts gets it way harder. At least Massachusetts has the infrastructure to handle the snow. If you say “snow” loud enough in Birmingham, the city just shuts down. I am looking forward to utilizing the public transportation infrastructure that is built up, as Birmingham’s public transportation is severely lacking. I’m also looking forward to exploring surrounding cities, as there are so many large cities with centuries of history within 2-4 hours of Worcester.
What’s one of your hobbies outside the lab?
I love going out and hiking. As I said previously, Birmingham has many great hiking parks with beautiful overlooks, historic ruins, and nice hideaways from the city. During the pandemic, going out and hiking after being cooped up from working from home in my apartment was a great way to relax and burn some energy. I also began to learn to identify local edible plant species and be able to forage and snack on wild fruits and herbs when they were in season like blackberries, dewberries, mulberries, huckleberries, muscadines, fennel, and wild onion. I hope to be able to identify more spots to go out and forage when I move up to Worcester.
Favorite kitchen utensil?
My favorite utensil is probably the spoon, since it is very versatile, and you can do pretty much anything besides cutting with one.
