Megan Dillon received her Bachelor of Science in Zoology from the University of Washington in 2000. Since then she has worked as a research and diagnostic laboratory technician, specializing in molecular biology techniques. As part of the ICE Network, Megan is working on the effects of diapause on macronutrients in bumblebee queens.

Megan first realized she wanted to be a scientist after exploring the ‘practical option’ of being a business major in college. As a scientist, she enjoys the steady flow of new ideas and projects. At some point, Megan would like to participate in some pre-diapause/diapause induction behavioral experiments with bumblebee queens upon exposing them to different temperatures and photoperiods.

During one of her labs as an undergraduate, Megan was in a hurry to leave and couldn’t find a face shield, so she grabbed some lab glasses to use while extracting a PCR band from an agarose gel over a UV light box. After a few hours, people kept commenting that the skiing must have been really good, but she couldn’t figure out what they were talking about. Turns out just a few minutes with unprotected skin over the UV light box results in a severe sunburn!

The best advice Megan has received is to write everything down and label all your tubes in the lab because you won’t remember what anything is when you return to the lab. If Megan could pick the perfect career she would chose to spend her time working at a garden nursery.