I received my BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Puget Sound in May of 2019. During my time there, I performed research in the lab of Dr. Leslie Saucedo studying the protein Phosphatase of Regenerating Liver 1 (PRL-1) in Drosophila melanogaster. I also interned for a summer at the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center where I studied Drosophila insulin-like protein (Dilp) neurons in Drosophila melanogaster in the lab of Dr. Akhila Rajan. After graduating from the University of Puget Sound, I started my PhD in the Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics program here at the University of Minnesota in the Fall of 2019. After rotating through a couple of labs, I happily joined the Gardner lab in February of 2020. Since joining the Gardner lab, I have also officially joined the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology program where I am currently working on a Masters in conjunction with my current PhD. My current research in the Gardner lab focuses on how the protein EB1 localizes along the growing ends of microtubules. The current model in the field states that EB1 binds between four GTP or GDP-Pi tubulin dimers at the microtubule plus end. Previous research in the Gardner lab, however, suggests EB1 binds between four GTP tubulin dimers and can bind to “incomplete” binding pockets where one or two of the four GTP tubulin dimers is absent. Through cell-free TIRF microscopy assays along with stochastic simulations, I have curated data to support the idea that EB1 binds to these “incomplete” binding pockets and that these binding sites are necessary for proper EB1 tip tracking. Going forward, I also plan to study the role of EB1 cancer. To do this, I plan to use genomics data from TCGA to see how EB1 is altered in different cancers and then plan to test how these differences may alter EB1’s ability to tip track growing microtubule with cell free and in vitro assays.
