Former Cattolico Lab Members
Amanda Hoyt
Amanda recently graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Biochemistry and is now in graduate school at the Scripps Research Institute chemical biology program. She was a member of Cattolio Lab from fall of 2003 through summer of 2006, with research focus on the cfxQ gene in the stramenopiles. As a prolific undergraduate researcher, she contributed greatly to sequencing projects and the development of protocols in our laboratory.
At Scripps, Amanda is advancing her education in molecular biology with a particular interest in cancer biology. Her current project is characterization of a membrane protein thought to be involved in cell-cell adhesion and survival during metastasis as well as creating an expression model and characterization of another protein thought to be involved in preventing metastasis.
Kun-Lin Lee
Kun graduated in June 2006 with degrees in both biochemistry and economics. A member of the Cattolico lab since winter 2004, he had an important role in sequencing projects and characterizations of the cfxQ gene. Abstract 1, Abstract 2. His work was supported by a Howard Hughes Scholars fellowship.
Currently employed by Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Kun is working in the Duffy lab on projects addressing severe childhood malaria and severe malaria anemia.
Richard Overman
Richard graduated in spring of 2006 with a degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. In the Cattolico Lab he was involved in the precise measurement of concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Using high-throughput, plate based fluorescent Amplex Red and luminescent MCLA assays, he measured concentrations of hydrogen peoxide and superoxide respectively. He is currently working as a laboratory technician in the Cell Processing Facility at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. His duty is to maintain the facility and aid in the controlled production of experimental therapies for clinical trials in humans.
David Keith
Dave graduated in spring 2006 with a degree in biology. Skills learned in the Cattolico Lab have come in handy in his current job in Houston researching group A streptococcus carbohydrate metabolism. Dave is currently in the application process for medical school.
Shalana O'Brien-LaBayen
Shalana graduated (at age 17) with a BS degree in Biology in spring of 2006. She did research in the Cattolico Lab beginning in the summer of 2005, using quantitative PCR to determine the time of Heterosigma's chloroplast DNA replication in its synchronous growth cycle. She is currently attending medical school in New York.
Megan Berger
Megan graduated with a BS in Biochemistry and Chemistry and Dance minors in spring 2006. She was a member of the Cattolico lab for about a year, investigating the replication of Heterosigma akashiwo chloroplast DNA and using quantitative real-time PCR to pinpoint the time of chloroplast DNA replication over a twenty-four hour synchronous cell cycle. Confocal microscopy was used to study the synchronicity of chloroplast DNA division among the chloroplasts in a single cell as well as in a population of cells. She also used reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR to explore the expression of various chloroplast genes thought to play a role in DNA replication.
Megan currently works as a research assistant at the University of Washington Genome Center and will likely continue working there as she prepares her applications for graduate school. She is interested in pursuing a higher degree in either Biochemistry or Genetics.
Kathy Chharing
