Elisabeth Garner ’25
Major: Biochemistry
Hometown: Atwater, California
Extracurriculars: 2023 Women’s Cross Country
Biochemistry major, Elisabeth Garner ’25, has been conducting fungal research since her first year at Pacific. While the major is often viewed as an intensive subject to study, Elisabeth enjoys the challenge, because of strong mentorship and her passion for using chemistry to study how microbes help plants resist drought.
“I wasn’t able to take a really intense chemistry class until I came to Pacific,” she said. “I absolutely fell in love with it. It’s given me the opportunity to delve more into learning about plant science and all the chemical processes that go behind that.”
Elisabeth’s experience began in high school on the agronomy team as part of her school’s Future Farmers of America program, where she studied plant science. Now three years into her journey at Pacific, she conducts chemistry research alongside chemistry professor Skylar Carlson.
“I feel so blessed to have been able to work with Dr. Carlson. She is an amazing professor and research adviser,” Elisabeth said. “I actually started doing research with her my freshman year, which usually isn’t the norm, but she accepted me into her lab anyway, and she’s taught me pretty much all that I know about conducting chemistry research.”
Last summer they worked together to determine the impact of media types on small molecule production from various aquatic fungi. These metabolites could lead to anti-fungal, antibacterial and anticancer medicines.
“I really saw Elizabeth develop as a scientist during this time, and I really got to see her note taking and her observations develop and to see her starting to connect the dots of the individual observations into a broader picture of the discovery,” Carlson said.
This summer, Elisabeth is working with Carlson and biology Professor Paul Orwin to see if a bacteria called Variovorax sp. can enhance the root growth of grapevines and help with drought tolerance. In practice, this could increase the overall fruit output and quality from the vines. According to Elisabeth, her experience would not have been possible without the Stauffer Charitable Trust Challenge Grant.
“Without the Stauffer grant, I wouldn’t have been able to do the summer research at all. It’s been able to help me with my housing and my food during the summer,” she said. “So, the grant has been able to financially help me participate in research.”
The Stauffer fellowship pays for units and a stipend for students to conduct full time research for 10 weeks over the summer. The fellowship is designed for students who hope to attend graduate school, but it is also open to pharmacy and dentistry students who want to expand their skills before professional school.
Fellowship applicants have often dedicated semesters or even years to their projects before they receive the Stauffer grant. Elisabeth has taken full advantage of the grant to further her plant chemistry experience with Carlson.
“Elisabeth has built her own project around these rhizosphere bacteria and the cheminformatics that she’s using to interpret the communication between the bacteria and the root. We’re hoping to give her the best chance at that and giving her the most opportunities possible,” Carlson said.
Elisabeth’s advice for students seeking the Stauffer grant is to focus on their writing skills and finding a professor like Carlson they could work with for a few months. As far as research focus goes, Elisabeth says, “Choose something that you absolutely love, something that you can be passionate about to work on for almost two, three months at a time over the summer.”
Elisabeth plans to continue her research with Carlson under the Stauffer grant and to apply to graduate school to get her master’s degree in plant biology starting next fall.
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