Biography

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Makenna Myrick, our Executive Director, is a fourth-year Biochemistry major with a minor in Pathogenesis.

Makenna’s passion for research and its transformative potential led her to join CURBS during her freshman year. As CURBS’ Executive Director, she aims to provide impactful opportunities for students to engage with research and overcome barriers to participation.

Her research spans two distinguished colleges at UF: Pharmacy and Engineering. In the College of Pharmacy, she serves as a lab assistant in the Center for Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine, investigating the genetic implications of medications related to heart attacks and heart disease and the application of genetic markers to develop pharmacotherapeutics and gene therapy solutions for cardiovascular distress.

Within the College of Engineering, Makenna is Co-Captain of UF’s iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) Competition Team. For the 2023 cycle, her team and herself focus on synthetic biology techniques to construct an in vitro organoid system replicating the hematopoietic function of bone marrow. Her team’s goal is to recreate bone marrow niches using droplet technology, enabling the study of sepsis.

In addition to her role in CURBS, Makenna actively contributes to various organizations on campus. She serves as a Florida Cicerone, Dream Team Engineering Research Captain, and sister of the Florida Delta chapter of Pi Beta Phi.

Beyond her academic and extracurricular pursuits, Makenna possesses a unique talent—she can recite and flawlessly execute the choreography of the entire 2006 film Happy Feet.