Dr. Özlem Yilmaz Research Lab
 At Medical University of South Carolina

Aricka is a biology student at Erskine College in Due West, South Carolina, graduating this fall. First involved with Yilmaz Lab in the 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP). During SURP, she looked at Oral Microbe P. gingivalis and its ability to persist in cells. She then returned to Yilmaz lab the following summer in 2025 and aided in multiple lab experiments.