Sydney is a research professional in the West Lab. Her work in the West Lab centers around organizing, managing, and running an NIH-funded porcine traumatic brain injury study evaluating the functional recovery and longitudinal effects of transplanted neural stem cells in the injured brain.
Sydney also assists with the completion of other studies including the development of novel primitive reflex tests in swine, evaluation of gut microbiome health and the effects on post-traumatic brain injury recovery, and novel cell-based therapy development in a porcine model of ischemic stroke. Additionally, Sydney helps support the lab by training new members and mentoring undergraduate researchers.
Graduating from Berry College in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science with an emphasis on chemistry, Sydney then joined the University of Georgia in 2019. During her time as a graduate researcher in the West Lab, Sydney completed work quantifying the results from porcine stroke studies involving the Landrace pig and the Yucatan pig to verify the comparability of the two breeds as research models. In addition, she also analyzed the effects of a novel biopharmaceutical on neural stem cell graft survival and differentiation in the porcine ischemic stroke model. This work, as well as many collaborations with others, led her to graduate with a Master of Science in Animal and Dairy Science in 2021.
When Sydney is not in the lab, she spends time in Athens enjoying good food, cold drinks, and great friends