Month: December 2024

When choosing a college, STEM opportunities were important for December genetics graduate Olivia Eierman ’24. Originally from Long Island, NY, Olivia came a long way to make Clemson her home.

“I chose Clemson because of its many opportunities in STEM related fields as well as hometown feel.”

With cluster engineering and biological sciences as her minors, Olivia’s favorite class while she was a student was Engineering Analysis of Physiological Processes (BIOE 3100) with Professor Dr. Heather Dunn. Olivia’s interest in engineering shined through her years at Clemson.

“Throughout Clemson I was involved in Engineers for developing communities where I was the project manager of the Cange Hospital Optimization team.”

In addition, Olivia served as the treasurer of Chaarg a health and wellness organization for girls at Clemson and was a member in Delta Zeta sorority. Chaarg, which stands for Changing Health, Attitudes + Actions to Recreate Girls, provides a holistically healthy + safe community for girls. Olivia also spent a summer studying abroad in Europe.

“My favorite Clemson memory was studying abroad in the summer of 2023 on a faculty directed trip with the bioengineering department watching the Eiffel tower twinkle on the last night of our trip!”

After graduation Olivia plans to go back to Long Island and work in a neuropathology lab and hopes to pursue a master’s or apply for PA school in the future. In her free time, Olivia enjoys taking her puppy on walks at the dykes, enjoying football games with friends and cooking.

Congrats, Olivia!

On Monday, December 16th, the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry held its semi-annual Research in Progress (RIP) Symposium, where graduate students give a 20-minute presentation on their research. This year’s presenters included Sabrina Pizzaro, Xiaotong Chen, Amara Onoh and Chia-Lun (Allen) Wu.

Titles of Presentations

Sabrina Pizzaro: Putative Sodium/Proton Exchangers in Trypanosoma brucei

Xiaotong Chen: How miR164 fine tuning plant growth to balance abiotic stress response and potential off target activity in DNA recombinase

Amara Onoh: Biochemical Characterization of MEILB2/HSF2BP as a Key Factor in Meiotic Homologous Recombination

Chia-Lun (Allen) Wu: Abnormal Trafficking and Processing of Multiple Matrix Metalloproteinases Drives Cartilage Defects in PMM2-CDG

For the last few years, Bryson Woodard BS ’23, MS ’24 has been a staple around the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry and the Eukaryotic Pathogens Innovation Center (EPIC), first working as a lab manager for the Morris lab as a biological sciences undergraduate and then as a graduate student.

Bryson graduates on Thursday with a master’s in biochemistry and molecular biology. With Dr. Meredith Morris as his PI, Bryson’s research focused on assessing glycosomal heterogeneity in the parasitic kinetoplastid Trypanosoma brucei.

“We are interested in the diversity of glycosomes, which are essential metabolic organelles within the Trypanosomes; previous research findings suggest that not all glycosomes are the same.”

To assess this diversity, Bryson and his lab mates use an endogenous tagging technique to attach fluorescent protein tags to essential glycosomal membrane proteins. These tagged membrane proteins allow analyzation of glycosomal diversity using fluorescence expansion microscopy and advanced forms of flow cytometry.

In his free time, Bryson enjoys visiting local coffee shops, hiking, reading, and spending time with friends. His favorite moment while at Clemson was in his undergrad years when it snowed.

“A couple of friends and I went sledding at the dikes and ended up meeting Dabo, such a cool experience!”

After graduation, Bryson plans to work as a phlebotomist while he applies to medical school.

“I would like to thank my lab and everyone in EPIC/B&G for all of their support throughout this process, awesome people have truly made all the difference!”

December genetics graduate Helen Kiser ’24 has made the most of her time here at Clemson – whether she was performing research, going to football games, volunteering or studying with friends at the library.

Originally from Maryville, TN, Helen’s minor was biological sciences, which led her to be a part of Dr. Antonio Baeza’s lab, in the Department of Biological Sciences, where she performed mitogenomic research on marine species.

“In my time being a part of this lab, I’ve been able to publish a manuscript, present posters at many conferences/symposiums, and present an oral presentation this past week at the BioSci Undergraduate Research Symposium.”

In her free time at Clemson, Helen enjoyed trying out a new recipe, painting, finding new hiking spots, spending time with friends and volunteering with the Greenville County Parks and Recreation program Camp Spearhead Weekend Program, which gives fun weekend activities for people with special needs.

“I would say some of my favorite moments here have either been game days or just normal days working and hanging out with my friends in the library (specifically the round tables on “the fifth floor!).”

Helen is currently waiting to hear back from the genetic counseling programs she applied to. Until then, she will be taking a gap semester to take some needed time off and waiting to hear back from the other jobs and grad schools she applied for.

“I want to say a big thank you to everyone part of my Clemson journey for making it as great as it has been! Being an out-of-state student was initially quite daunting, but the tight-knit nature of the department gave me the opportunity to make many friends-for-life!”

Dr. Hong Luo has received a $650,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the unintended consequences of three site-specific DNA recombination systems commonly used to genetically engineer target crops.

5th year Ph.D. student in Dr. Jennifer Mason’s lab Josh Turner was recently awarded an Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EMGS) travel grant to attend the EMGS annual meeting in Palm Springs, CA.

Drs. Trudy Mackay and Robert Anholt have been awarded a $170,000 grant from the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation. The grant will be used to utilize Drosophila models of Sanfilippo A and B (also called mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) IIIA and IIIB) to screen FDA-approved drugs that may ameliorate the symptoms and disease progression of these devastating pediatric diseases, also called “Childhood Alzheimers.”

Director of the Eukaryotic Pathogens Innovations Center (EPIC) and professor of Genetics and Biochemistry Dr. Kerry Smith has taken a role with the Clemson University School of Health Research (CUSHR) as campus research director for the Prisma Health Education and Research Institute (PHERI).

Dr. Robert Anholt served on NIGMS COBRE Phase 1 reviews – Special Emphasis Panel/Scientific Review Group 2024/10 ZGM1 RCB-T (C1).

Ph.D. student in Dr. Jim Morris’ lab Sabrina Pizarro has been awarded an EPIC Graduate Translational Research Assistantship.

Dr. Alex Feltus was interviewed by WYFF4 about artificial intelligence and using it in the classroom and beyond.

Authority Magazine recently highlighted Professor Shahid Mukhtar’s work and career journey in science in the article, “AgTech: Shahid Mukhtar of Clemson University on The New Technologies That Are Revolutionizing Agriculture.”

At the American Society of Microbiology Joint Branch Meeting of South Carolina, biochemistry and molecular biology master’s student Bryson Woodard received an Honorable Mention for his poster presentation titled, “Construction and Characterization of Transgenic Cell Lines for the Analysis of Glycosome Heterogeneity in Trypanosoma brucei“.

At the Clemson vs Virgina game on October 19th, Dr. Trudy Mackay was featured as professor of game.

Dr. Robert Anholt was invited to deliver a virtual scientific presentation skills workshop for the University of Chile in Santiago. In addition, he has been appointed a guest professor, in the Master in Genetics Program and Program of Human Genetics at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences within the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Chile.

Elizabeth Caldwell, senior genetics major, was selected as a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the most prestigious and selective major fellowships available to American college students.

At the American Society of Microbiology Joint Branch Meeting of South Carolina, biochemistry undergraduate Hayeon Cho received an Honorable Mention for her poster presentation titled, “Determination of the role of one cathepsin C-like protease, TgCPC2, in Toxoplasma gondii infection.”

Dr. Alex Feltus and Ph.D. candidate Xusheng Ai released open-source generative AI software called GEMDiff that can “deep fake” gene expression in diseased tissue to look like gene expression in normal tissue.

Dr. Robert Anholt is a member of the Intellectual & Real Property Committee of the Greenwood Genetic Center and serves on the planning committee for the 2025 NIDA Animal Genetics Consortium meeting.

Clemson News featured an article spotlighting Drs. Trudy Mackay and Robert Anholt’s research of how fruit flies could help find treatment for “childhood Alzheimer’s.”

Dr. Kelsey Witt Dillon published “Late Pleistocene onset of mutualistic human/canid (Canis spp.) relationships in subarctic Alaska” in Science Advances.

Dr. Shahid Mukhtar published “CD2 expressing innate lymphoid and T cells are critical effectors of immunopathogenesis in hidradenitis suppurativa” in PNAS. This research was highlighted in a Clemson News article.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Julia Frugoli, along with genetics alumni Cameron Corbett, Tessema Kassaw, Stephen Nowak and Ramsés Alejandro, published “The Defective in Autoregulation (DAR) gene of Medicago truncatula encodes a protein involved in regulating nodulation and arbuscular mycorrhiza” in BMC Plant Biology.

Drs. Trudy Mackay and Robert Anholt published four articles:

• “Pleiotropy, epistasis and the genetic architecture of quantitative traits”
• “The genetic basis of variation in Drosophila melanogaster mating behavior”
• “The genetic basis of incipient sexual isolation in Drosophila melanogaster“
• “Drosophila toxicogenomics: Genetic variation and sexual dimorphism in susceptibility to 4-methylimidazole”

If you’re in the sciences, odds are you’ve crossed paths with Kate Doran. Maybe in your genetics or biochemistry or anthropology or engineering or chemistry or biology courses. Kate seems to be a jack of all trades in the College of Science.

Originally from Stephentown, New York, Kate is a junior double majoring in genetics and biochemistry with minors in social sciences, biological sciences, engineering and chemistry. Kate chose Clemson because when she toured “it felt like home” with it being a big school but with a small school environment.

Research being a significant part of Kate’s academic career, she has been involved in the Creative Inquiry + Undergraduate Research Program, Clemson University’s unique combination of undergraduate research, experiential learning and cross-disciplinary interactions.

“The opportunities available were unmatched, specifically the creative inquiry program which allows undergraduate students to do research.”

The title of Kate’s Creative Inquiry project is “Development of a 3D-Printed Millifluidic Device to Study How Bacteria Alters the 3D Migration of Breast Cancer Cells.” The goal of this project was to look at the chemotactic response due to soluble factors released by bacteria in the breast tumor microenvironment and investigate this through the development of a 3D printed millifluidic device to analyze cancer cell chemotaxis.

In addition to the Creative Inquiry Program, Kate participates in Dr. Adam Melvin’s chemical engineering lab, focusing on the 3-Dimensional migration of breast cancer cells within a 3D printed device.

“Prior to Clemson, I did not anticipate working or participating in an engineering environment, however the opportunities presented to undergraduates are unmatched across all fields.”

The research she has participated in at Clemson led her to obtain a position as a summer intern at the National Institutes of Health last summer. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.

Kate notes some of her academic success to the people she is surrounded by here at Clemson, whether that be academic advisors, professors or other students.

“As I move forward in my degree, each semester I meet more people within the department, and the community that biochemistry and genetics majors have is truly special.”

After graduation, Kate plans to pursue an M.D. or a Ph.D.

“Medical school has been a long-term goal of mine, and following the introduction to biochemistry and research, it was apparent the original plan could be expanded in order to better help others in the long run.”