Emily Pruitt graduated from Wingate University in 2018 with a BS in Chemistry and a minor in Mathematics. During her time there, she performed research with Dr. Krista Wilson on opioid peptide cyclization through the Sonogashira reaction and completed her honors thesis with Dr. Samir Kuzi and Mr. Todd Griffin on developing UPLC-MS/MS methods for the detection of mycotoxins in dietary supplements. Emily also participated in an REU program at the University of Tennessee where she utilized surface-enhanced spatially offset Raman spectroscopy for the detection of neurotransmitters through the skull under the direction of Dr. Bhavya Sharma. Emily joined the Xu Lab in Autumn 2019 and works on the mechanism of the utilization of exogenous lipids by bacteria using microbiology and mass spectrometry techniques. She is also currently collaborating with Dr. Matthew Bush in Chemistry on ion mobility enabled lipidomics. In her free time, Emily enjoys painting, eating good sushi and hiking with her puppy!