Katherine Hanson Email & Phone Number

Kansas City, Mo, Us

Lawrence, Kansas, United States

Work in Dr. Stuart Macdonald’s lab identifying genes whose expression significantly changes during the adult lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster using a multi-timepoint RNA sequencing analysis. Have successfully clustered identified genes based on their gene expression trajectories and have characterized these clusters with enrichment analyses identifying gene ontology terms, gene groups and pathways. To make our results more accessible, developing a Shiny app in R to allow users to search for specific genes and receive information regarding that gene’s expression trajectory and the cluster it was grouped in. For these analyses and results have developed skills in RNAseq analysis, R/DESeq2 and R/Shiny.Have additionally worked on identifying zinc resistance loci using extreme QTL mapping in Drosophila melanogaster and determining possible causative genes. QTL were identified by dividing the genome into windows and observing significant shifts in Drosophila Synthetic Population Resource founder haplotype frequencies between a pool of extremely selected zinc resistant flies and a control non selected pool. Observed 7 QTL that were spread across the genome. Identified candidate genes within the QTL by gene ontology and previous heavy metal toxicity studies, and these were further narrowed down by knocking down candidate genes in flies and testing on zinc selective media.To answer these questions and obtain these results used a variety of techniques including DNA isolation, library preparation, PCR, and RNAi; as well as requiring skills in using the programing language R.

Lawrence, Kansas, United States

Instructor for two Data Carpentries and one Software Carpentries workshops hosted by the University of Kansas Libraries. Data Analysis and Visulation in R for Ecologists, where learners are introduced to R and RStudio and how to view, manipulate, analyze data with emphasis on using the tidyverse package.Genomics Workshop, where learnes are introduced and taught how to navigate and interact with files using a command line and how to use and analyze raw read data. Learners are taken through the genomic workflow of quality checking raw reads, aligning reads to reference genome, and calling variants. Learners are then introduced to R and RStudio and how they can be used to further analysis on genomic data.Plotting and Programming in Python. Learners are introduced to programming in Python in a JupyterLab server and notebook, how to read in and plot dataframes using pandas, and how to write and utilize loops and conditional statements.

Lawrence, Kansas, United States

GTA for Dr. Eileen Hotze for Biol 400 Fundamentals of Microbiology, Fall 2019, and Biol 150 Principles of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Spring 2020. Attended lecture, held weekly office hours, and assisted in grading assignments/exams. GTA for Biol 350 Principles of Genetics, Fall 2020, 2021, 2022. Attended lecture, taught weekly discussion groups, held weekly office hours, held review sessions for exams, and assisted in grading assignments/exams. Fall 2022 had the opportunity to teach an hour and fifteen-minute lecture introducing quantitative genetics to a class of about 200 students. Wrote the quiz that tested material over quantitative genetics which was given in discussion sessions.

Worked in Dr. James Birchler lab, observing the effect of duplicate centromeric genes on the viability of maize and gene expression. Identified maize plants that had duplicate centromere regions by digesting root tips and performing F.I.S.H on slides that had chromosomal spreads. Took leaf tissues from identified plants to isolate DNA and RNA to determine where the duplication break points were and the effect on gene expression.

Kansas City, Kansas, United States

Worked with Dr. Shrikant Anant studying the effect that exosomes from aggressive cancer had on colonization of lung tissue. Isolated exosomes from colon cancer cell that expressed RBM3 at different levels and treated plated lung in a dish with exosomes and patient derived cancer cells. Observed that tissue treated with exosomes isolated from higher RBM3 expressions cancers were more susceptible to metastasis. Presented results to board members of Parker B. Francis Foundation, other fellows, and mentors at the end of the fellowship luncheon.

Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Worked with Dr. Valentina Shakhnovich a pediatric gastrologist and observed how clinical trials are run and gained experience working in a medical lab. Did literary research about genetic variation in Hydrogen-Potassium ATPase pump and identified mutations in the pump to be further investigated. Presented findings from literary search at the end of the program.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Molecular Biosciences

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Biology, General

Graduated Summa Cum Laude with Departmental Honors Minor in History Multicultural Certification