July 13, 2016
Muriel Eaton awarded Duke Summer Undergraduate Research in Pharmacology and Cancer Biology fellowship
When Muriel Eaton found a purple T-shirt on the Duke University campus, she had to have it. She is spending the summer in Durham, North Carolina, but she likes the reminder of home.
"I miss my lab and PI, Jeroen Roelofs, in Ackert Hall, but this is an opportunity to work with different model organisms and techniques," Eaton said.
Eaton was awarded a Duke Summer Undergraduate Research in Pharmacology and Cancer Biology fellowship and will finish her eight-week stint at the end of July. She is working with Ed Levin, who oversees environmental toxin and addiction studies in rats and zebrafish. Levin also is mentoring another undergraduate student and a high school student this summer.
Eaton said her fellowship supplements her molecular cellular biology research with Roelofs — who works with protein complexes in cells — because she is working with a higher-order model organism that helps her understand "the big picture" and how her work may apply to humans. "I'm also gaining a different perspective on troubleshooting and problem solving," she said.
In addition to her work with Levin and buying a purple Duke T-shirt, Eaton has enjoyed visiting the lemur research center, watching a Durham Bulls baseball game, and spending time at the beach during her visit to North Carolina.