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The WIS Hall of Fame
Thelma Donchig
Biology by the Numbers
Wesleyan senior biology major Thelma Donchig accepted to highly competitive summer research program in computational biology
By Leona Baker|May 18, 2011
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Advances in DNA sequencing technologies have provided scientists with billions of bits of information with a staggering list of potential uses in the fields of medicine, forensic science, evolutionary biology, and even artificial intelligence. The challenge: How to make sense of them all?
One Virginia Wesleyan student will get a chance to be on the forefront of that process. Senior biology major Thelma Donchig, who is scheduled to graduate in December of this year, has been accepted to a highly competitive and prestigious summer research program in computational biology in Mississippi State University.
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“This is real cutting-edge, modern biological research,” says Dr. Phil Rock, Professor of Biology and Donchig’s advisor. “It is an area that is full of possibilities. The is just so much DNA sequence data that has been generated-and continues to be generated-that there is a real need to train people to be able to sort through this data in a variety of ways.
A transfer student from Tidewater Community College, Donchig also attended University of Nevada, Reno and Saint Louis University in the Philippines. Like most biology students, she considered medical school but became interested “bioinformatics” after Dr. Rock encouraged her to explore programs and graduate schools in the field.
The intensive, full-time program at Mississippi State runs from May 31 through August 6. It includes a stipend, on-campus housing and a meal allowance. Research projects in the program include such intimidating titles as “Functional Genomics in Developmental Biology” and Algorithms for High Throughput Sequencing.”
“I’m Very nervous and excited,” says the soft-spoken Donchig. “The research is very intense.”
She hopes her recently completed courses in microbiology and genetics-both with Dr. Rock-will serve her well. Participants in the program are assigned a mentor to guide them through the process.
“I’m delighted it was awarded to her,” says Dr. Rock. “I’m confident she’ll do well and have a good experience this summer.”
Find out more about the Computational Biology Program at Mississippi State University.
Congratulations, Thelma!
We are proud to announce that our Westfields High School Alumnus has been accepted to a highly competitive and prestigious research program of the Mississippi State University. Read more in the article “Computational Biology Program”, at Mississippi State University.
