DAFVM Spotlight Employee: Darian Young
Darian Young
With Darian Young’s experience in completing research and lab experiments, the Mississippi Veterinary Research and Diagnostic Laboratory in Pearl runs like a well-oiled machine.
As Research Associate under Dr. Trey Howell, Young runs various experiments along with his daily responsibilities, which include maintaining cell cultures, extracting cells from tissue samples, and analyzing data.
“My job really depends on the major project at hand,” Young said. “Towards the end of a project, we will run multiple experiments to test our results. It gets particularly busy in the spring when the lab receives animal tissue samples that need to be tested.”
Young has been interested in science since childhood. His curiosity about biology led to him to pursue his degree in the field. Young graduated with a degree in biology from the University of West Alabama in 2012 and a master’s in biology from Mississippi College in 2014.
“I’m gaining valuable research experience before I pursue my doctorate,” Young said. “My plan is to continue in research after furthering my education.”
Young said his favorite thing about his job is getting unexpected results from an experiment.
“It’s so interesting to see results come in and be counter to what we believed they would be,” Young said. “We always conduct a follow-up experiment and of course continue to find out why the results were the way they were.”
When he’s out of the lab, Young enjoys reading and visiting his family in Meridian. He said this year he is looking forward to a break for the holidays.
“I remember waking up Christmas morning at my grandparents’ home and rushing to open presents,” Young said. “Now that I’m older, I realize it isn’t about what’s under the tree but who’s around the tree, instead.”
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