ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

I am an RNA enthusiast who likes to take cellular and molecular approaches to solving biochemical questions. Utilizing budding yeast, I ask questions about how human disease mutations impact RNA processing.

About me: 

I received my PhD in Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology from Emory University where I investigated the impact human disease mutations had on the function of the RNA exosome. After graduate school, I held a postdoctoral Institutional Research and Academic Career Developmental Award (IRACDA) at Tufts University School of Medicine where I studied the intersection between cellular stress and RNA polyadenylation. As a member of the Biochemistry Program and Biology Department, I bring a passion for RNA and for sharing that excitement with students through my research and teaching!

About the Sterrett Lab: 

Our lab is expanding upon work I did studying the molecular consequences of disease mutations in genes that encode the RNA exosome. The RNA exosome is a conserved and essential RNA processing machine. Recently, a growing class of human diseases- known as “RNA exosomopathies”- have been identified. RNA exosompathies have diverse, tissue specific pathologies and are caused by missense mutations in RNA exosome genes. These missense mutations cause single base changes in conserved regions of different RNA exosome components. The diversity of RNA exosomopathies in patients suggests these single amino acid changes result in distinct consequences in RNA exosome function.

The primary question of our research is how do amino acid substitutions in essential RNA exosome subunits differentially impact the function of the complex? We can begin teasing out answers by utilizing the awesome power of genetic model systems! We first model RNA exosomopathy mutations and the resulting amino acid substitutions in the homologous yeast RNA exosome. Utilizing biochemistry and molecular techniques, yeast genetics and large-scale RNA-seq analyses, we can then identify conserved biological processes and mechanisms that underly RNA exosompathy diseases.

About my teaching: 

Scientific learning is a creative, tenacious and bold process, compelling constant questioning and “out of the box” thinking to solve new problems. My motivation as an educator is to engage with the entirety of the person I am instructing to foster their own creativity, tenacity and boldness .

I can translate this motivation into three goals I have for each course I teach:

• Increase student scientific literacy so they can boldly engage with our ever-evolving technological world
• Grow student confidence in unravelling a challenging problem through creative thinking
• Respect and support students’ whole selves so they can each develop tenacity in pursing their own goals

At ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ, I teach classes in the areas of biochemistry and molecular biology:

BIOL3304 The RNA World (F25)
BIOL2134 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (S26)