Investigating the use of Environmental RNA (eRNA) as a Non-Invasive, Real-Time Biomarker for Marine Health
Molly is from the eastern shore of Maryland but spent much of her childhood sailing on her family’s catamaran around the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This time underway fostered Molly’s love for the outdoors and marine science. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering and Biochemistry from Northeastern University, where she completed her Honours Thesis on the optimized conversion and extraction of two anti-cancer alkaloids from the plant Catharanthus roseus. After graduating, she worked as a Research Associate at the Ocean Genome Legacy Center researching the long-term room-temperature preservation of high-molecular-weight DNA from marine samples.
Molly joined the Gemmell Lab as a PhD student to investigate the use of environmental RNA (eRNA) as a noninvasive, real-time biomarker for marine health. She is eager to combine marine science and bioengineering to develop a monitoring tool for local and global threatened marine ecosystems.