Professor of Sciences

434.544.8083
[email protected]

Biography:

I have been on the faculty here since 2003. Prior to my appointment at Lynchburg, I had visiting assistant professorships at Mount Holyoke College, the University of Richmond, and Allegheny College. Prior to beginning my teaching career I did a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Charles Clevenger at the University of Pennsylvania on molecular signal transduction pathways associated with Vav1 in prolactin signaling and breast cancer, and a post doctoral fellowship at the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation on in vitro characterization of IL-1 signaling in EL-4 thymoma cells as a model system, under the direction of Dr. Kristin Linner. My doctoral research investigated neuroimmunomodulatory mechanisms of morphine induced immunosuppression in the female B6C3F1 mouse.

Education

• PhD, Pharmacology & Toxicology – Medical College of Virginia / Virginia Commonwealth University, 1993
• BS, Biology – University of Richmond, 1988

Courses Taught

• Organisms, Ecology, and Evolution
• Cells: Genetic and Molecular Perspectives
• Immunology
• Microbiology
• Honors Colloquia – Biology Through Biography
• Introduction to Women’s Studies (beginning Spring 2007)

The course work also includes student and instructor-based research (BIOL 240, BIOL 440, BIOM421).

Research Interests

My research interests include immunopharmacology and immunotoxicology studies of the mechanisms of opiate induced immunosuppresion, and current areas of investigation include immunomodulation by Echinacea purpurea in mouse and tissue culture models, immunomodulatory properties of melatonin, and caffeine, the development of model systems for studying oral biofilms from feline and canine samples, and molecular characterization and sequencing of aquatic bacteria.