Anna Damato selected as 2022 Ceil M. DeGutis Prize Fellow
Anna Damato is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Neuroscience in the Department of Biology. Anna was nominated for this award by her thesis mentor, Dr. Erik Herzog, in whose lab she is connecting the bench to the bedside by investigating mechanisms of glioblastoma brain tumor circadian rhythms and how they impact the efficacy of chemotherapy. Anna uses real-time bioluminescence reporters of circadian gene expression to analyze the effects of timed treatment, with the goal of maximizing anti-tumor effects and minimizing side effects of chemotherapy in treating an otherwise dismal disease. In addition to cellular and molecular studies, Anna collaborates with physicians at the Siteman Cancer Center to assess benefits of timed chemotherapy in patients with brain cancer. (more…)
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. 
Ryan went to the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities for undergrad where he completed a double major in Plant Biology and Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development. Ryan joined the Plant and Microbial Biosciences program in the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis in 2017. Ryan joined the lab of Dr. Lucia Strader for his thesis work. Upon the Strader Lab moving to Duke in 2020, Ryan became co-advised by Dr. Alex Holehouse. Ryan’s thesis work covered a wide-range of areas including plant hormone crosstalk, biomolecular condensates in plants, and the role of protein disorder in condensate formation. Ryan finished his Ph.D. in December 2021. 
Melanie Ernst is a fourth-year graduate student in the Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology (BBSB) program. She is completing her Ph.D. thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Janice Robertson, Associate Professor in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics department, where she uses single-molecule techniques to study the folding of ion channels in membranes.
Mr. Matthew A. Cruz joined the lab of Dr. Gregory Bowman, Associate Professor, in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, where he studies the relationship between an ebolavirus protein’s structural dynamics and its function. Through computational and experimental techniques he is measuring how changes in protein dynamics affect RNA binding. Matthew is applying this research to find drugs that disrupt protein dynamics to combat ebolavirus infections. 
Jasmine is a fifth-year graduate student in the Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology (BBSB) program. She is doing her PhD thesis work in the lab of Dr. Andrea Soranno, where she studies how sequence composition of intrinsically disordered regions within a protein can affect interactions with both proteins and nucleic acids using single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy.
Dr. Kathleen Hall was promoted to serve as a senior member of the Washington University School of Medicine Committee on Admissions in recognition of her contributions and dedication to the WUSM Admissions process.