Ashley Fisher is a Pharmaceutical scientist. She truly personifies the fundamental definition of what it means to be a scientist. “Science” comes from the Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge" or "knowing". Science is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding of how the physical world works. Given that definition, everyone with a desire to know is a scientist. Fisher is someone who possesses that desire and enjoys working with students who posses that desire as well.

Mentoring

Fisher’s quest for knowledge in the sense of an academic career began with a great chemistry teacher she had in high school. Then she moved on to get her Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry at Wooster College in Ohio. From there she took several research positions at various institutions after which she began applying for graduate school. Fisher found the research at the University of Arizona interesting, and was soon a member of a research team. She began working with Dr. Lau, a well known professor and toxicologist at The University of Arizona (soon to receive the 2009 Education Award from the Society of Toxicology.)

Ashley Fisher is a mentor with a passion for teaching and helping high school students gain understanding. She has been working as a mentor for five years and is currently working with the Keys Research Internship at the University of Arizona. (The KEYS Research Internship offers summer internships to motivated high school students who have a strong interest in pursuing advanced education or training in the bioscience or biomedical fields.) Fisher has worked as a mentor for both undergraduate and graduate students but admits that high school students are her favorite to work with.

Recognition

What Fisher enjoys most about the students is the curiosity they posses due to their lack of knowledge in the field of chemistry. Yet, with that lack of knowledge there is often uncertainty. One of the biggest difficulties a mentor can face is making sure the kids are confident enough to ask questions and to admit to things they don’t understand. Fisher does her best to make them comfortable with communicating and asking those questions, which is an integral part of being a scientist.

Throughout her academic career, Fisher has won several awards. She was recently a 2008 Travel Support recipient for The Society of Toxicology’s (SOT) Annual Meeting. The SOT Annual Meeting is the largest toxicology meeting and exhibition in the world, attracting approximately 6,200 scientists from industry, academia, and government.

Fisher is humble when she talks about her accolades and focuses on the importance of going to national meetings because it gives her the opportunity to gain more knowledge about cutting edge developments in her field. At the Annual Meeting Fisher and others are expected to present and explain several abstracts and posters that they have prepared.

Publications

The most recently published abstract and paper Fisher worked on was the “Quinone Electrophiles Selectively Adduct ‘Electrophile Binding Motifs’ within Cytochrome c.” This paper details the importance of identifying quinone electrophiles and their metabolite binding to critical proteins. A metabolite is any organic compound produced by metabolism. The binding of metabolites and proteins is necessary for cellular balance. The paper highlights the impact of this chemical binding on structure and function of critical proteins involved in important cellular pathways and tells how this chemical binding may play a role in the overall toxic response observed with these reactive chemicals.

The Future

Fisher graduated from the University of Arizona in 2008 with a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicinal Chemistry Track and Biological Chemistry Program affiliation. She is currently interviewing for jobs at pharmaceutical companies and is looking forward to continuing her research beyond the realm of academia.