First Tuesday Forum Recap
11/14/2025
Rippel studied in the molecular biology lab where she explored the relationship between excess growth hormone and cell senescence.
Student shares undergraduate summer research experience
The November edition of the “First Tuesday in the Library” forum series was presented by Alexis Rippel ’27, who shared her summer research conducted in the Diabetes Institute Summer Interprofessional Research Experience (DISIRE) Summer Undergraduate Program at Ohio University.
Rippel studied in the molecular biology lab where she explored the relationship between excess growth hormone and cell senescence.
Her program was eight weeks long, where she spent time researching, preparing posters and presentations and participating in a research conference where she presented her findings with her lab partner, Brania Tzou.
“Brania was very helpful to have throughout this entire process, just to have someone there with me,” noted Rippel.
They were one of the few undergraduate groups in the DISIRE program to display their research at the conference. “We were very excited to do this because only a few students are selected to actually present their results from their study, it was just really fun for us to be together.”
Rippel is thankful for her mentors as well, Dr. Edward List and Dr. Darlene Berryman. "I had a great time and would love to go back. My favorite part was the entire program,” she stated cheerfully.
This program gave Rippel many connections, both within a professional setting and outside of the workplace.
“You meet a lot of amazing people and make a lot of friendships, but also you make a lot of good academic relationships as well,” Rippel explained. “On the weekends, we had dinners with everyone from our group, and we would all go out together and do different activities, we even went ziplining together.”
Rippel entered this summer’s internship program with an idea of what she wanted to study, and the experience confirmed that she’s on the right path.
“I begged them to be in the molecular biology lab because this was the program I had planned on going into for my Ph.D. and doing this has confirmed that even more. I loved every step of it,” she stated.
With a prior internship in pathophysiology and now the DISIRE internship focused on molecular biology, Rippel plans to pursue more chemistry-based internships in the future to strengthen her knowledge in a field she’s passionate about.
-Coen North '26