PARTICIPANT HIGHLIGHT – Rachel Monroe – 2017 PROGRAM
“I like how the labs at UGA are interdisciplinary because it takes that type of approach to make breakthroughs.”
Rachel Monroe, a rising junior at the University of Kentucky, is one of 11 top students from across the U.S. participating in the University of Georgia’s Nanotechnology and Biomedicine REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program this summer. Working in Dr. Eric Freeman’s lab in the College of Engineering, Rachel is helping develop complex networks of droplet-interface bilayers, where cellular mimicking membranes are created at the points of contact between aqueous droplets immersed in an oil reservoir with dissolved lipids. The work could help pave the way for the creation of novel bio-synthetic smart materials.