{"id":73,"date":"2026-05-06T19:46:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T19:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/?p=73"},"modified":"2026-05-07T23:39:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:39:29","slug":"meet-maud-birkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/2026\/05\/06\/meet-maud-birkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Maud Birkey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BioResource Research Major, toxicology option, with minors in toxicology, chemistry, and environmental occupational health <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Student
Maud Birkey preparing to load a qPCR plate at the OSU Agricultural Sciences Environmental and Molecular Toxicology lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Question:\u00a0So\u00a0Maud, what can you tell me about yourself and what drew you to the major?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m a second year BRR student and what kind of drew me to the major is I was an out of state student who was really enthusiastic about research and the scientific process in high school… One of the reasons I was drawn to Oregon State in general was because of their undergraduate research programs and I initially came in as an exploratory student because I wasn\u2019t 100% sure how I wanted to channel that interest. I kept hammering to my exploratory advisor \u2018please put [me] in somewhere where I can have a path to research because that\u2019s what I want to do\u2019. So he put me in BRR 100 with a bunch of BRR freshmen and it was really good exposure to the program, to mentors, to people who were very self-assured at a time where I had no idea what I was really going to do. So that kind of pretty much sold me on being part of this major and this path to doing a research project, doing a thesis. So yeah, now I am a BRR major with an option in toxicology, minors in toxicology, chemistry, and I recently added an environmental occupational health minor… I am currently doing a little bit of an unconventional pre-med track.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: Can you tell me a bit about your project and what you would like the average person to understand about your research?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, so I\u2019m in Dr. Julia Cui\u2019s lab<\/a> and we are studying the gut microbiome. We\u2019re investigating the gut-brain axis and how inflammation in the gut from exposure to certain toxins, certain chemicals, may cause inflammatory cascades that may worsen the progression of things like Alzheimer’s, which is what my focus is. So investigating this environmental health concern… and you know something that we are exposed to basically everyday as Americans and as people who just come in contact with microplastics on a daily basis. Being able to see like the connection and the real impacts that it may have on us has been super interesting.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I am studying mouse models. I\u2019ve been synthesizing mice intestines samples and mice hippocampus [brain] samples, and have just been working to see gene activation and indicators… that could indicate some progression of Alzheimer’s and these like neurodegenerative diseases… So we know in the gut that microplastic exposure can cause an immune response, which is that inflammation, and we know that one of the key mechanisms for Alzheimer’s is this consistent inflammation in the brain over time that is sustained… Just trying to be able to connect it in a succinct way that also has to do with the gut microbiome and you know, trying to develop ways to kind of create precision medicine and unique treatments based on your gut microbiome.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Student
Maud Birkey loading a qPCR plate at the OSU Agricultural Sciences Environmental and Molecular Toxicology lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Question: What do the next steps in continuing this work look like? Is this something you are interested in continuing yourself?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo next steps are, in terms of communicating this, I plan to present what I have currently; the data analysis, the sample synthesis that I have done… at the spring undergraduate poster symposium<\/a> and from there I plan to join regional and national chapters that have toxicological interest such as PANWAT<\/a> and SOT<\/a> and just really try to put myself and my research out there.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Future steps after I complete a BRR thesis are to join the tox AMP program<\/a>. I would love to get an accelerated masters in toxicology. I like working under Julia, collaborating with her and her lab, and I just enjoy doing research, and I hope to get out of that some publications perhaps. It\u2019s something I have really been looking forward to and a lot of that is to make me a stronger applicant for what I am hoping to do after Oregon State… I would love to find a niche that intersects with patient care and laboratory research, which are both things that I am super passionate about. So yeah, I think physician researcher is definitely the ultimate title that I am going for right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: Do you have any advice for students considering or recently joining the major?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, I mean just being in BRR and having such a positive experience with mentors, including Wanda<\/a>, as well as older BRR students, has made\u00a0me\u00a0really\u00a0want to step into a mentorship role myself, but also just being able to\u00a0customize your academic career is something that not a lot of students get and so taking advantage of that and really making the major work for you as much as you\u2019re working for the major is\u00a0something\u00a0that\u2019s really cool to see and really rewarding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re also exposed to some of the most intelligent people on campus in terms of professors, in terms of students, and it\u2019s really underrated I would say, just being exposed to positive things that are happening in research and in the world of academia especially during uncertain times… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess the final bit of advice for undergraduates and new students is that the people around you will absolutely just give you a plethora of resources that you are able to use, and should use, to your full advantages to get what you want out of the major. You know it\u2019s for very independent people, very self-driven people, and so just being able to be a go-getter with what you\u2019re provided, what this major does provide you opportunities to do, is super important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BioResource Research Major, toxicology option, with minors in toxicology, chemistry, and environmental occupational health  Question:\u00a0So\u00a0Maud, what can you tell me about yourself and what drew you to the major? \u201cWell, I\u2019m a second year BRR student and what kind of drew me to the major is I was an out of state student who was really enthusiastic about research and the scientific process in high […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15174,"featured_media":75,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"everybody","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,3],"tags":[22,21,20,16],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brr-students","category-research","tag-human-health","tag-premed","tag-toxicology","tag-undergradresearch","has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/8977\/files\/2026\/05\/1232F92D-AC4C-4500-8635-A918A575F1A2-scaled.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions\/81"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/bioresource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}