Courtney Manning

Hello, my name is Courtney Manning, and I am from Northern Virginia.

I graduated from Hampton University with a B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in forensics.

Originally, I planned to pursue a career as a forensic analyst. However, my life experiences have always made me interested in biomedical research. To strengthen my interdisciplinary training, I applied and was accepted to a post-baccalaureate research program at the University of Georgia, PREP@UGA. This experience has allowed me to explore more fields of biomedical science and prepares me for a bioscience Ph.D. program. During my time in PREP@UGA, I was co-mentored by Dr. Art Edison and Dr. Ross Marklein. My project gave me a unique opportunity to work in a collaborative effort in their labs to improve mesenchymal stromal cells for manufacturing purposes using cell morphology and NMR metabolomics. I learned a variety of techniques such as cell culture, fluorescence microscopy, and NMR spectroscopy. My time at PREP@UGA gave me the experience and confidence to pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical research. From the hands-on experience in a bioengineering and metabolomics lab to the graduate level class work, I was able to “trial run” graduate school before committing to a degree program that could take 5+ years. I am currently at Duke University in the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology program, an interdisciplinary program where I am able to rotate in a variety of labs that span multiple facets of biomedical research.