Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Alumni Ashley Destin! Ashley has been accepted to Washington State University's Master of Science in Animal Science.
Of their program, Washington State University states:
Programs are flexible and designed to meet the needs and interests of the student and, as such, specific degree requirements are determined through individual consultation with an advisor and a special committee. The department maintains herds of dairy cattle, beef cattle, and swine for research and teaching purposes.
Ashley Destin graduated from Eastern Washington University in 2022 with a major in Biology. Her passion is animal care with a focus on domestic house cats. In the past, she volunteered in a small veterinarian clinic, working closely with surgeries and animal husbandry. Dr. Judd Case mentored Ashley for both of her Summer Research Internships with EWU McNair. Her summer 2020 research explored the relationship between skull morphology and general body size among felids (house cat, lynx, puma), mustelids (minks, weasels, badgers), and canids (foxes, coyotes, wolves); with a focus on North American felids, as it relates to prey acquisition. In 2021 Ashley and Dr. Case made a significant potential discovery while comparing wild and domestic feline blood cell shape. They found that there seems to be a strong, but untested, correlation between RBC shape and the severity of cytauxzoonosis in felids. The bowl shape in domestic cats could provide more cell volume for the parasite to proliferate, which may lead to a higher population of the parasite in the host and a more severe infection.
