Todd Bell, Principal Investigator, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVP
Lab Members
Todd Bell, a new faculty member at ISU, is a recently retired US Army Soldier and scientist. He is dual trained as a biodefense veterinary pathologist and virologist. His last duty assignment from 2020 to 2023 was as the Foundational Sciences Director at USAMRIID. The FSD Director manages the four science divisions within USAMRIID consisting of a multidisciplinary research directorate of over two hundred military, civilian, and contract personnel. USAMRIID is the premier medical biological defense laboratory in the US and provides end to end leading edge capabilities to deter and defend against current and emerging biological threat agents.
Breigha Boyle, PhD Candidate
Breigha graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2023 with a degree in medical laboratory science. Breigha joined the Iowa State Immunobiology PhD program after working in the diagnostic and research laboratory at the UW Health University Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Some of her research interests include cellular virus-host interactions, novel vaccine development, and mouse modeling.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/breigha-boyle-442619203
Lauren Bloodgood, PhD Candidate
Lauren graduated from Missouri Western State University in Spring 2023 with a degree in biology and a concentration in health science. Lauren’s undergraduate research was in identifying and characterizing antimicrobial compounds from soil microbes. Lauren’s current research interests include mouse modeling, virus-host cell interactions, nanovaccine particles, and microscopy.
Rylee Beardsworth, Veterinary Student, Class of 2029, and Summer Scholar Student
Rylee graduated from Drake University in May 2025 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and a B.A. in Biochemistry. As a summer scholar in the Bell Lab, she is investigating how influenza modulates host pathways while evaluating targeted antiviral strategies.