Elana Ehrlich combines a love of teaching and high-level research

By Megan Bradshaw on August 18, 2017

Elana Ehrlich, the Jess & Mildred Fisher Endowed Chair in the Biological and Physical Sciences, has successfully combined her love of teaching with high-level research.  Her commitment to serving students has led her to the role as a co-principal investigator for the Bridges to the Baccalaureate program that eases the transition for students from community college to Towson University.

“It was so rewarding to me when I was in college to learn with a diverse population, and I was looking for that type of teaching experience,” said Ehrlich.  “I want to interact with different types of students, from single mothers to first-generation Americans.”

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Ehrlich proudly recalls an undergraduate from a disadvantaged family who worked in her lab for two years.

“I saw someone who had the potential and the ability, but needed a push," Ehrlich said. "She just completed her first year in a doctoral program.”

Ehrlich works on a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored project focused on virology and ubiquitin, a small protein found in almost all human cellular tissue, which helps regulate the processes of other proteins in the body. She also studies the sensitivities of ubiquitin in a new class of cancer drugs.