Bladder Cancer Research

I look at the effects of cigarette smoking on bladder cancer and we use a

technique called immunohistochemistry exclusively right now. And this is one of

my research assistants Jessica Nix. Hello I'm Jessica and I'm

also I'm a biology student here at UNG trying to get my bachelor's. I'm also a

teaching assistant for Dr. Kispert and the anatomy and physiology labs and

I do help Dr. Kispert with her

immunohistochemistry and research.

So it's really important to involve students in

our research because not only do they gain skills, they learn how to

problem-solve. It's really helpful for graduate school applications and things

like that. So I've had the wonderful opportunity to have a few undergraduate

research students involved; Jessica is my primary research student. It's pretty

exciting, so she's written a grant and gotten accepted. She's doing she has

three conferences that she's presenting at this spring so she's really doing

well and she's kind of setting a really good example in the lab for all my other

research students.

I can take all this information that I've learned and have a

leg up on other students whenever I enter my program because I have so much

bench work research. And this is also another reason why I've decided to take

straight PhD instead of going to the master's because I have so much

experience. So my best advice to students here at the University of North Georgia

is find yourself a mentor because they are so incredibly helpful.