Dr. Leah Williams, who recently received her PhD in the Gilmore Lab in the Cell & Molecular Biology PhD program in Biology, was lead author on a paper published in December 2021 in the Nature journal Communications Biology. The study, entitled “Comparison of NF-kappaB from the protists Capsaspora owczarzaki and Acanthoea spectabilis reveals extensive evolutionary diversification of this transcription factor,” presents the first functional characterization of transcription factor NF-kappaB in single-celled organisms. The results provide a basis for understanding the evolutionary origins of this key protein and have implications for the origins of regulated immunity in higher animals, including humans.
This paper includes over 50 undergraduate co-authors from the BB522 Molecular Biology Laboratory taught by Dr. Gilmore. The research was supported by funds from the National Science Foundation, including an REU grant to Gilmore and a Graduate Research Fellowship to Williams.
Dr. Williams is currently a Scientist in the Immuno-Oncology group at CRISPR Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA.
Read the paper here.