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Update:  Since graduation Claire is doing an internship at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. Read more about her plans to accelerate her medical career.

Integrative Biology senior Claire Ostertag Hill

Winner of OSU’s 2014 Pre-Medical and the Merrill Foundation Scholarships and a 4-year University Presidential Scholarship, integrative biology senior Claire Ostertag-Hill has been accepted at the prestigious Wake Forest Medical School in North Carolina.

As part of her Honors Senior Thesis, Ostertag-Hill studies the bovine herpesvirus-1 outbreak. A biology/psychology/ international studies senior, she is using DNA sequencing and genetic screening tools to analyze specific genes of the viruses from the outbreak.

Working with College of Veterinary Medicine professor, Ling Jin, Ostertag-Hill has discovered mutations within several genes that could be the cause of the outbreak. In addition, the new technique used in this research shows promise as a rapid diagnostic method for differentiating viral strains in clinical infection from vaccine strains.

Ostertag-Hill’s research is supported by the Howard-Hughes Medical Institute Summer Research Grant, Cripps Research Scholarship and the Undergraduate Research, Innovation, Scholarship & Creativity (URISC) program.

Read more about Claire and her experiences abroad.