Congratulations to Arthur Sletton for receiving the 2017 David F. Silbert Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.

The 2016-2017 David F. Silbert Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award foes to Mr. Arthur Sletton for his work in the 2016 Fall Human Body course. Mr. Sletton was nominated by Drs. Kari Allen, Glenn Conroy and Jane Phillips-Conroy. Mr. Sletton exemplified the spirit of this award through his dedication and lasting contribution to the course, the course instructors, and the students in the class.

Mr. Arthur Sletton is currently an MSTP student in the Molecular Cell Biology Graduate Program. He is pursuing his thesis work under the mentorship of Dr. Dan Ory in the Department Internal Medicine. Dr. Ory’s laboratory is interested in the molecular mechanisms of metabolic stress. Through independent genetic screens they have discovered several loci that are required for cellular responses to oxidative stress. Mr. Sletton’s research focuses on one of these loci, small nucleolar hosting gene 3 (snhg3), which encodes the intronic snoRNA U17. Disruption of U17 expression protects cells from apoptosis induced by palmitic acid and hydrogen peroxide. Preliminary data indicates that this protection may be conferred by altered mitochondrial metabolism. Ongoing work seeks to understand how U17 regulates oxidative stress and mitochondrial physiology at the functional, morphologic, and biochemical levels.

Mr. Sletton will be awarded a cash prize of $250 and will be recognized at the annual awards luncheon on December 8th.

For more information on Arthur Sletten, please visit his profile page here: http://mstp.wustl.edu/students/Pages/student_bio.aspx?SID=7159.

You can view the past recipients HERE.

(2017-12-12)