Congratulations to Tessa Lochetto for being selected for the 2024 Elliot L. Elson Education and Training Award

Tessa is a third-year graduate student in the Molecular Cell Biology (MCB) program. She joined DBBS in 2021 and chose to pursue her PhD thesis work in the lab of Dr. Natalie Niemi, where she studies how dysregulated mitochondrial protein phosphorylation influences the form and function of striated muscle. Specifically, Tessa addresses how hyperphosphorylation of mitochondrial proteins contributes to pathophysiology and tissue dysfunction in cardiac and skeletal muscles using cellular and murine models.

Tessa joined the MCB program after receiving her B.S. in Biochemistry at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. During her undergraduate training, Tessa worked for 2.5 years in the lab of Dr. Robert J. Tomko Jr. spearheading a project with a goal of determining the mechanistic basis for RNF213 dysfunction caused by Moyamoya disease-associated mutations.