Monday, July 18, 2016

Thomas Lynch successfully passed his Ph.D. examination on Monday, July 18, 2016, in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. His thesis title was "Adult Stem Cells in the Trachea and Tracheal Submucosal Glands". Members of her thesis committee were chair, John Engelhardt, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology; Tina Tootle and Brad Amendt, also from the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology; Budd Tucker from Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Diane Slusarski from Biology.

Tom Lynch graduated from Augustana University (Sioux Falls, SD) in 2008 with a B.A. double majoring in Biology and Chemistry. As an undergraduate, Tom was involved in organic chemistry research that focused on developing new anti-cancer drugs.
Tom joined the Biosciences Program in 2009 and the Anatomy and Cell Biology Department in 2010 under the mentorship of Dr. John Engelhardt. In 2013, he was invited to present a scientific symposium at the National American Thoracic Society Conference in Philadelphia, PA. He has helped publish eight manuscripts as a member of the Engelhardt laboratory and has first authored a literature review, a book chapter, and a research paper published in the May 2016 issue of Stem Cells. He is finalizing an additional manuscript for submission to the journal Cell: Stem Cell.
When not in the lab, Tom and his wife, Anna, enjoy playing softball with their friends. He also enjoys working out and playing with his 3-year-old Labrador retriever, Nova. (Although he and Anna often feel like the two activities are not mutually exclusive.) Tom also enjoys painting and creating art from some of the microscopy images he collects in the lab.
Following graduation, Tom will perform post-doctoral research with Dr. Kalpaj Parekh investigating processes that contribute to the rejection of transplanted lungs. In addition, he will continue to work in the Engelhardt lab to interrogate a number of new animal models that he helped to create.