Rylee graduated from Southern Huntingdon County High School in 2018 as Salutatorian. She began her undergraduate studies at West Virginia University in the fall of 2018 and she began working with Dr. Meares at that time. Rylee majored in Immunology and Medical Microbiology and received her Bachelor of Science in May 2022.
During her time in Dr. Meares lab, she presented her research at West Virginia University’s Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium (2019), Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium (2021), and the state of West Virginia's Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol (2021). She will be presenting at the 52nd Annual American Society for Neurochemistry Conference in April, 2022.
Rylee attended the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) at the University of Pittsburgh in 2021. She conducted research full time in Dr. Walter Storkus's laboratory. Here, she evaluated a novel triple reporter mouse model and its role in studying STING agonist treated melanomas and presented her project with an oral presentation at the end of the program.
Rylee is currently a fourth year PhD candidate in the Program of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh in the lab of Anthony St. Leger. Her thesis project is focused on the neuroimmune axis of the cornea during steady state and viral infection.
Rylee was awarded the Knights Templar Travel Award, first place MIT(Member in Training) award for Microbiology and Immunology, and Raniyah Ramadan Foundation award for Microbiology and Immunology at the annual ARVO conference 2024.
Most recently, Rylee was awarded the Chateaubriand Fellowship for STEM research for the 2025-2026 year. This fellowship will allow her to study in a collaborating laboratory at the Institut de la Vision in Paris, France for five months under the supervision of Dr. Annabelle Reaux-Le Goazigo. This work will be an extension of her PhD thesis work, specifically expanding on neuroscience techniques.
You can follow me on Twitter @4thryon4th for updates on my professional life!