I am a fifth year doctoral student in biology.  My research is focused on in vivo cellular dynamics during wound healing and tissue-regeneration.  Particularly, I am interested in how non-traditional ion channel signaling can influence cell behaviors such as macrophage activation/recruitment and mesenchymal cell proliferation.  I use Axolotl salamanders and human embryonic cell lines to investigate the physiological mechanisms and specific signaling pathways involved in facilitating these processes.  I am also involved in education research and our current project is investigating the effectiveness of various types of instruction at conveying complex physiological concepts to typically underachieving students.