Natalie Johnston

About

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I am currently rearing a colony of Black Soldier Flies, Hermetia illucens, to research whether they mitigate colonization of organic waste by the Stable Fly, Stomoxys calcitrans. Is Stable Fly oviposition deterred by Soldier Fly larvae? Do Soldier Fly larvae compete with Stable Fly larvae? These are some of the questions my thesis work seeks to address. It is the hope that H. illucens larvae /adults may be used to prevent future, seasonal peaks of S. calcitrans in feed lots and farms, as well as mitigate existing ones.

Learning the Scottish Gaelic language and volunteering with Bruner Club outreach are a little of what I enjoy in my spare time.

Education

• B.S. in Molecular Biology from Messiah University, Mechanicsburg, PA , 2022

Presentations

• 2021 REU Symposium, UNL, Lincoln, NE. Johnston, N. August 2021. “Developing a new approach for the determination of LncRNA function” (lecture, video, poster)

• 2021 Fall SEH Symposium, MU, Mechanicsburg, PA. Johnston, N. December 2021. “Evaluation of a novel qPCR assay for detection of CCK2R and CCKi4svR in pancreatic cancer” (virtual lecture)

• PAS Symposium, DU, Center Valley, PA. Johnston, N. March 2022. “Optimization of a novel qRT-PCR assay for relative quantification of CCK2R splice variants in pancreatic cancer” (poster)

• 19th Annual SEH Symposium, MU, Mechanicsburg, PA. Johnston, N. April 2022. “Optimization of anovel qRT-PCR assay for relative quantification of CCK2R splice variants in pancreatic cancer” (lecture, poster)

• 2022 REU Symposium, UNL, Lincoln, NE. Johnston, N. August 2022. “Developing an insecticide bioassay for Soybean Gall Midge” (poster)

• 2022 Fall SEH Symposium, MU, Mechanicsburg, PA. Johnston, N. December 2022. “Quantification of CCK2R splice variants in pancreatic cancer patient samples” (lecture)