Trainee Profile: Marley Blommers
Hawaiian-born Marley Blommers grew up in Chatham, Ontario until he moved to Connecticut to play basketball and finish high school.
Basketball was a big part of his life. He was recruited to Dal to play, obtaining an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience, even though he started in Commerce!
Marley is part of the Iulianella Lab, whose research involves looking at specific genes that might be involved in the regulation of neural development, e.g. allowing for proper neural structures like the brain and the spinal cord to form properly. Their objective is to get a better understanding of the entire picture and maybe apply that to different clinical settings like neurodevelopmental disorders or when the development goes awry.
Marley’s research builds on groundwork laid by Danielle Stanton-Turcotte, who has been investigating the Mlllt11 gene in distinct areas of the brain. Marley has been specifically looking at the gene as it relates to the development of the eye. He recently published an article based on research that he started in his undergrad and has been working on for a few years!
A big ‘family guy’, Marley rooms with his younger brother, who also studies at DAL and he is very happy that his parents and family all moved (back) to NS recently. Marley recently retired from basketball but has stuck with fitness. He says he still needed something to keep him in shape – physically and mentally. So, he started running and recently completed the Valley Harvest half-marathon.
Self-motivated and determined, Marley is committed to his studies and keeping active. His goal is to attend medical school at DAL, but he says he enjoys research so he’s also open to doing a PhD. His advice to trainees is to “Keep all doors open and be open to new experiences and trying new things. Like taking certain courses that you think you might be interested in . . . it's funny how all things work out.”
Update
Marley successfully defended his Masters thesis (with distinction) in July 2023.