Last month the Lee Lab celebrated the end of summer with a potluck that included many current and former members, and even our very own Team Tetrahymena baby! We congratulated Courtney Yoshiyama on her graduation with a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and welcomed former lab member Maya Matsumoto back as a full-time Research Tech. It’s been a busy summer in the lab with many projects ongoing but we’re excited to see what we can get up to once classes start again!
This exciting 5 year award (“Investigating the Role of an RNA Interference Pathway in Safeguarding the Tetrahymena Thermophila Somatic Genome” MCB 2143019) will support us in our ongoing studies of when, where, and how DNA genomes are protected from accumulating DNA damage by RNA interference pathways while also strengthening and expanding research experiences for undergraduate and Masters’ level students! Yippee!! For more about this award, please see our NSF Award Abstract and an article in Western Today.
Congratulations to Fall 2021 graduate Jason Sasser, who has completed a Bachelor of Science in Biology with an emphasis in Cellular and Molecular Biology! Jason was also a member of WWU’s Honors College for which he prepared and presented an Honors Capstone Senior Project on his research with the Lee Lab.
Jason’s research contributed to our understanding of the relationship between RNAi pathways, Twi proteins, and genome integrity in Tetrahymena.
Most immediately, Jason plans to gain experience in clinic settings to help him decide whether to pursue a career focused on biomedical research, becoming a medical provider, or both.
We wish Jason all the best in his next steps!
Congratulations to recent Lee Lab undergraduate alum Maya Matsumoto, who was recognized for her research and presentation skills at the 2021 SACNAS (NDiSTEM) Digital Conference, as an awardee of the Student Presentation Awards! Maya presented her work on developing microscopy image analysis code to quantify extranuclear DNA bodies, which has been performed in collaboration with Lee Lab undergrads Christina Mong, Patrick Pando, and Alison Witwer, and WWU Biology collaborator Dr. Nick Galati. According to SACNAS President Dr. Pamela Padilla, “The Student Presentation Awards recognize the next generation of scientists and STEM leaders from historically excluded populations.”
Two Lee Lab undergraduates, Jason Sasser and Courtney Yoshiyama, were each awarded a WWU Research and Creative Opportunities Award for the 2021-2022 academic year. These awards will support their ongoing research projects in the Lee Lab focusing on Twi proteins in RNAi in Tetrahymena.
Congratulations to Jason Sasser for receiving the WWU CSE Jarvis Memorial Summer Research Award for the summer of 2021. This award provides a summer stipend for undergraduate students within CSE – Jason will be continuing the research he has been working on in the Lee Lab for the past year and a half!
Congratulations to two 2021 Lee Lab graduates, Christina Mong and Maya Matsumoto, who were recognized this Spring for their achievements during their undergraduate years at Western! Both graduates, along with several other members of the Lee Lab, contributed to the recent Lee Lab publication.
Outstanding Graduate of Biology, Christina, majored in Cellular and Molecular Biology. Outside of her time in the Lee Lab, where she conducted many experiments and presented research at a molecular biology conference, she was involved in various diversity efforts for the Biology Department and College of Science and Engineering. Christina represented the department as a Biology Ambassador with the Natasha Hessami Student Ambassador Program for two years. In this role, her leadership was evident as she acted as a liason between students and faculty and advocated for equity and diversity in biology and STEM.
Maya received the 2021 Biology Undergraduate Research Award for her work in the Lee Lab during the past year. She was recognized for her work and leadership as part of several projects with the lab and contributions to the lab’s science outreach. This included her presentation at the 2020 SACNAS conference on molecular visuals and science communication, and future presentation at the 2021 SACNAS conference on her work to improve a code used by the Lee Lab for quantifying extrusion bodies during image analysis.
Congratulations to Erin Tessier, Christina Mong, and Maya Matsumoto for graduating this year! Through a full year of virtual learning, these three students all completed a BS in Cellular and Molecular Biology, with Maya also completing minors in German and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math).
Erin will be taking a gap year and looking for work in biotech or research before pursuing graduate school. Christina is currently studying to become a Dental Assistant in the future. Maya is selling science stickers and art on her Etsy @MWMLetters (check out her Instagram, too) and will be transitioning to Robin Kodner’s lab at Western to perform research with the Living Snow Project next year.
And to all Lee Lab members who have graduated previously, we congratulate you as well, especially those who finished their time with the lab at the beginning of the pandemic last year! Thank you to all students for the incredible work you do!
The Lee Lab manuscript titled “Disruption of a ∼23-24 nucleotide small RNA pathway elevates DNA damage responses in Tetrahymena thermophila” was published online in Molecular Biology of the Cell this May. This is the first manuscript published by the Lee Lab, on which many current and former lab members assisted, and we hope that there will be many more to come! The manuscript covers our investigations into the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway that produces ~23-24 nucleotide small (s)RNAs in the ciliated eukaryote Tetrahymena thermophila. Specifically, we investigated phenotypic and gene expression impacts on cells when genes involved in the RNAi pathway are disrupted. Read our paper for more information!
This year, 2021, the Peter J. Elich Excellence in Teaching Award was given to Suzanne Lee for her exemplary teaching practices. She was recognized for her hands-on work and efforts to improve diversity in her classrooms and within STEM. She aims to inspire and empower her students to become lifelong learners and work collaboratively.