School of Molecular Biosciences

My true passion was always horses, and I wanted to be a large animal veterinarian.

In a light-filled laboratory, Nick Negretti grows bacteria. “I love pathogens,” says Negretti, who is a graduate student in the WSU School of Molecular Biosciences. “They are so interesting. In each of us, there are more bacterial cells than human cells,” he says. “And while most bacteria are helpful, there are a few that make us […]

Keesha Matz wants to understand some of the world’s deadliest viruses. Raised in Chehalis, Washington, her love for microbiology began in a molecular genetics high school class taught by WSU alumnus Henri Weeks. “The class gave me a real feel for research, which I think is unique for a high school class,” says Matz. That […]

Floricel Gonzalez (’16 BS) was attending the School of Molecular Biosciences scholarship awards ceremony holding a letter in her hand. She knew she’d received a scholarship, but didn’t yet know which one. Carefully opening the letter, she read the name: The Elizabeth R. Hall Endowment Scholarship. “My jaw dropped,” says Gonzalez. The prestigious award, given to promising students in medical microbiology, was $4,000. “It was a breath of fresh air that I don’t have to worry about tuition or books for my last year.”

Travis Kent will be one of the first students to earn a doctorate through the Students Targeted toward Advanced Research Studies, or STARS.

James Bonner loves science. As a freshman, James knew he wanted to major in biochemistry, so when he was selected to be part of the new hands-on Science Education Alliance biology lab, or SEA lab, in the WSU School of Molecular Biosciences, he was thrilled. “The lab brings abstract scientific concepts into everyday learning,” said […]

As a manager of a clinical laboratory with the US Air Force, Captain Cordy Herring needs to have science, business, and managerial expertise to do his job well. After he was selected to further his education in a USAF program, he looked at universities that would broaden those skills and the WSU Professional Science Master’s Program rose to the top of his list.

Unlike a lot of high school students, Ross Rowsey, a senior in the School of Molecular Biosciences, and Kathryn Jewett, a graduate student in the Department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology (now Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience), knew they wanted to go to graduate school. So when each learned about the accelerated graduate school programs in the college, they knew it would be the right course for them.

For the past seven years Dr. Mike Konkel, professor in the School for Molecular Biosciences, and Dr. Doug Call, professor in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, have been working together to find answers about how to better control some of the most serious disease causing bacteria found in our food supply.

“I believe the best work comes from collaboration,” said Dr. Konkel. “The key for us is we complement each other well. We have overlapping interests, but different expertise and are willing to be flexible and accommodate each other. That’s what makes a collaboration like ours last for so many years.”