Trainee Spotlight: Beatrice Colon
Beatrice Colon, an Illinois native, is a Ph.D. trainee in Dennis Kyle’s laboratory. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Science degree from the University of South Florida (USF). She began her Ph.D. at USF as well.
Beatrice moved to the University of Georgia in January 2017 with the Kyle Lab.
“I decided to transfer universities because of the excellent infectious disease department,” said Beatrice.
Research and Training
“My favorite thing about the CTEGD is the openness for collaborations; the center is also very focused on training a new generation of scientists. “
Beatrice is currently working on a drug discovery project for the brain-eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri. The disease was the major factor that drew her to the project. Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis is nearly always fatal and affects young healthy children. Moreover, there is not an effective drug treatment for people that do get infected with the amoeba.
In her short time at UGA, Beatrice has won first place for a poster presentation at the graduate student and postdoc symposium. She was also selected for the Biology of Parasitism course at Woods Hole, MA this past summer.
“This course was definitely a career-changing experience – I was able to work with a variety of infectious diseases and learn techniques that were not available for the parasite I work on.”
What’s Next
Beatrice is interested in staying in drug discovery for infectious diseases and currently looking at positions in both academia and industry.
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