Brie Holder | Top Three Undergraduate Students in Biology

Hometown: Sharpsburg, Maryland

Favorite Experience: My favorite and most rewarding experience so far has been serving as a captain for Zeta Tau Alpha’s team for The University of Alabama’s Dance Marathon. For the past 10 years, UADM has helped fundraise in support of our local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. For the past two years my team and I were able to participate in virtual and in-persion BAMAthon events. Seeing the total fundraised after BAMAthon and seeing all the hard work my team and I put in throughout the year finally paid off, was very empowering. Of course, the best part about it was that it was all for the kids!

Favorite Professor: The best academic experiences I’ve had have been with Dr. Brandon Kim. Once deciding I wanted to come to The University of Alabama, I decided that I’d also like to get involved in research on campus. Luckily enough, after a few weeks on campus, I was able to connect with Dr. Kim and join his laboratory. Since joining, I’ve learned about his research with bacterial infections of the blood-brain barrier and have even gotten the chance to write and publish my first research paper highlighting the comparison of the Brain Barriers Virtual seminar series versus past in-person conferences motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve also gotten a chance to get hands-on experience in the lab researching the effects of Group B Streptococcus on macropinocytosis in brain endothelial cells and present at the URCA. Dr. Kim has been an outstanding mentor and I’m so grateful for my time in his laboratory.

Future Plans: After graduating with my Bachelor of Science in Microbiology in the spring of 2022, I plan to continue my education at Alabama and hopefully graduate with my Master’s in Business Administration in 2023.