Maryl Wright Ponds

Maryl Ponds is an Innovation Fellow at the Tulane Innovation Institute.  Maryl was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the age of 14, Maryl knew she wanted to pursue a career in science. She received her Bachelor’s in Biological Sciences at the University of New Orleans (’10). Maryl was then accepted into the Bioscience Education and Training program, funded by the Southeastern Louisiana Institute for Infectious Disease Research (SLIIDR) at the LSU Health Science Center in New Orleans, where she contributed to research investigating the effects of Candida yeast on a diabetic murine model in the Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology department. After completing the program, she worked as a lab technician and production supervisor for a local forensic toxicology lab and concurrently pursued graduate studies. She received her M.S. in Microbiology and Immunology at Tulane University (’15), where she participated in a research project on sublingual influenza vaccinations.

While attending Tulane, she learned about the Bioinnovation Ph.D. program. Maryl was accepted into the Bionnovation Program in the fall of 2016 and began working in the Burow/Collins-Burow lab shortly thereafter. Her dissertation project focused on developing and characterizing decellularized patient-derived xenografts to model triple-negative breast cancer. The Bioinnovation program provided Maryl with formal knowledge of business models, intellectual property, and technology transfer. Maryl gained knowledge of drug and medical device regulatory processes through an FDA internship. Maryl gained additional commercialization knowledge through an internship at Tulane’s Business Development Office, which promotes collaborations between university researchers and external partners. Maryl’s interests include translational research, health disparities research, and commercialization. 

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