Congratulations to Jennette Codjoe for being selected for the 2021 John E. Majors Fellowship Award

Jennette received her bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. In 2016 she joined the Plant and Microbial Biosciences Program in the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences at Washington University. She is completing her thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Haswell, where she works to elucidate mechanical signal transduction pathways in plants. Using a combination of proteomic and genetic screens in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, Jennette uncovered a novel connection between a plasma membrane mechanosensitive ion channel, MSL10, and proteins that tether the ER and the plasma membrane together. She has shown that MSL10 influences the morphology of ER-plasma membrane contact sites.

Outside of the lab, Jennette is an active volunteer and board member of Claver House, a non-profit organization that provides STEM education to youth in a home-like environment in the Ville neighborhood of North Saint Louis. She has helped organize multiple educational summer camps, recruiting Washington University graduate students and postdocs from DBBS and the Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Departments to teach lessons. Jennette likes to teach kids about biology using Claver House’s community garden.