Kylie Haskins

Hi, my name is Kylie Haskins, and I am a member of the 2003 entering class. I am a recent graduate of The College of William and Mary, earning a BS in biology. While in school, I worked in the laboratory of Dr. Gene Godbold, where I attempted to create a variant of the green florescent protein, and in the laboratory of Dr. Lizabeth Allison , where I studied the nuclear localization mechanism of the thyroid hormone protein. During the summers of ’01 and ’02, I interned at The National Cancer Institute in the laboratory of Dr. Glenn Merlino studying various mechanisms of UV induced melanoma in transgenic mice.

With a diverse research background, I was unsure where to place my focus in graduate school. This is what led me to join UPG, a degree granting umbrella program. What this means (although initially very confusing), is that UPG students can join any lab that uses genetic techniques among all of the departments here at Duke and still earn their degree in genetics. This flexibility allows me to explore my broad research interests. After my first year, which consisted of lab rotations, I joined the Aballay lab where I will focus my research on the role of CED-1 in apoptosis using the C. elegans model organism.

At Duke, the weather is wonderful, the people are friendly, and the cost of living is low, an ideal combination for graduate studies. I hear the basketball team is pretty good too. I am really happy here in and out of lab and believe that joining UPG at Duke was the perfect choice for me!

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