Deborah Allen is a Professor at Jefferson College in Missouri, where she teaches microbiology as well as several other courses for students entering allied health careers. Her graduate work was in zoology at the University of Oklahoma and in neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University. She participated in cancer research at the University of Arkansas Medical Center before embarking on a career in publishing, working in acquisitions and development for books in the life sciences. She is now thrilled to be working on the other end of the desk with the Nester team. Away from campus, Deborah reads or listens to her favorite Eve Dallas novels, floats the rivers and listens to folk music in the Ozarks, and fully appreciates the local microbes while visiting Missouri wineries.