Menu
MCC grad volunteers in front lines of COVID-19 testing
McCOOK, Neb. -- In March, when lack of COVID-19 testing became a key issue in the battle to flatten the coronavirus curve, a McCook Community College graduate shifted her biomedical research pursuits in Texas to help administer a backlog of COVID-19 tests.
Whitni Redman, a 2013 MCC graduate, was one of the first three graduate students at Texas Tech who volunteered to be trained to assist in COVID-19 testing at Texas Tech University Biological Threat Research Laboratory at the Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH).
“They were an amazing addition to the team and did an outstanding job – their time and contribution is greatly appreciated,” said Dr. Cynthia Reinoso Webb, Biological Threat Coordinator.
Whitni, who is on track to graduate in May of 2021, was in the midst of her thesis research focusing on increasing antibiotic potency for chronic infected wounds. That’s when Texas medical professionals were seeing spikes of the coronavirus in the area. They were having a difficult time keeping up with the testing and looked for qualified volunteers to meet the demand.
“I’m really pleased that Whitni chose to continue pursuing research after leaving MCC, and proud that one of our alumni is helping battle the COVID-19 epidemic,” said MCC Biology Instructor Rob Bogardus.
For one crazy month, Whitni was trained, and signed on to work eight-hour shifts three to five days a week, while continuing to do what she could in her own academic research (less in the lab because of limited access, and more in the thesis writing.) She assisted in processing the swabs, running tests on the samples, and determined if the subject tested positive or negative for the coronavirus. The facility was the testing center for Lubbock and the surrounding regions including the Odessa, Midland and Amarillo areas.
While most everything was shut down, Covid-19 testers had even stricter limitations.
“We weren’t allowed to go anywhere,” Whitni said. “We wore masks all the time, we weren’t allowed to go out in public and were limited to grocery or food delivery. So we’d do a shift and then go home.”
Her mother in Holyoke, Colo., did not like the idea of Whitni being on the front-line of the pandemic.
“She had a lot of concerns. She is a beautician and her customers had a lot of questions,” Whitni said. Soon whenever anyone at the beauty shop had a question, mom would text her. Many others had questions too – so many in fact, Whitni decided to post answers on social media. Even though her area of study isn’t in viruses, she felt the need to provide sound scientific answers to a wide range of questions.
“I do bacterial research, I’m not a virus expert, but I tried to do my own research and take on the role of finding the answers that were scientifically proven,” she said.
While it was volleyball that led her to MCC, it was ultimately “finding the answers that were scientifically proven” that led Whitni to pursue a pre-med degree and inspired her into the field of research.
“I enjoyed my time as a Lady Indian, we had a very young team and struggled early in the first season, but started working as a team as the season went along,” she recalls. “I didn’t know anyone when I came to McCook so bonding with teammates was important especially that first year, staying up late, painting each other’s toenails… then I dug deep into the sciences and became a work study in the science department and that was so much fun it just made it very clear to me, I wanted a career in science.”
She worked closely with former instructor Jim Hall and current biology instructor Rob Bogardus.
“Whitni was always so excited about biology, and did a great job as one of my very first research students,” Bogardus said. “She thrived on the chance to work independently; creating and doing an experiment to answer a question that no one knew the answer to. That’s the appeal of research -- the chance to learn something that no one has ever learned before.”
Bogardus set up a research project where the two of them went out to the lake one spring and collected isopods (roly polies) and compiled research for factors like species interaction and leaf degradation.
“That was an eye-opener,” she said. “I came from a small town and was always interested in science but Mr. Hall and Mr. Bogardus really showed me what scientific research was all about. They showed me a path. That year with them had quite an impact on the focus of my career.”
After graduating in 2013, she went to Peru State College and graduated in May 2016. She was accepted to the doctorate program for biomedical sciences at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in August of that year and plans to graduate next May.
She wants to stay in the academic arena and become a professor. She plans to apply for post-doctoral fellowships that would allow her to spend three to five years in a laboratory and focus on research and eventually have her own lab after pursuing academic posts.
There is little time for her outside the lab. Because of her research she has been able to travel -- including conferences like one last year in Scotland. She also enjoys spending time with Maggie, her Shih Tzu therapy dog, and has done some community outreach with her.
“Mostly I’m always in the lab, I’m a science nerd – a lab rat -- but it is absolutely where I want to be.”