I escaped rural Kansas to get a BS from the University of Denver, where I was first involved in laboratory research (I did Honors projects in Chemistry and Molecular Biology). I got my PhD from Johns Hopkins University, where studied the physical properties of the TraM protein, which is important for bacterial conjugation. I changed fields and coasts for my postdoc, moving to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to work with Mark Roth. I joined the faculty at UW in 2010, and my work aims to understand strategies that organisms use to maintain homeostasis in a constantly changing environment. I like thinking about metabolism and genetics and proteins.

I am co-director of the UW Allies Program with Dr. Sharona Gordon. The Allies is a peer-support network for faculty who mentor trainees in their lab. The Faculty Allies also runs a volunteer program where graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who work in basic science labs at UW can request support when they are navigating institutional systems or conflicts with mentors or lab mates.

Stress homeostasis and metabolism

I’m broadly interested in stress homeostasis. Since joining the faculty at UW SOM, we have studied how hypoxia (low oxygen availability) impinges on development and the aggregation and toxicity of proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases. My group also pioneered the use of C. elegans to explore molecular genetic and epigenetic factors that mediate the physiological effects of hydrogen sulfide. Currently I have become I am also quite interested in understanding metabolic adjustments and stress homeostasis mechanisms that allow parasitic worms survive in vastly different environments across their lifespan.