Author Archives: Jonathon Cornett

Genetics and Molecular Biology Graduate Students Jessica McAfee (1st author) and Alejandro Gomez in the lab of Hyejung Won published a paper titled "Massively parallel reporter assay investigates shared genetic variants of eight psychiatric disorders" in the March 2025 issue of Cell.

Genetics Society of America is pleased to announce that UNC Genetics and Molecular Biology Graduate Student Jeanne-Marie McPherson (Bob Duronio & Dan McKay Labs) is a recipient of the DeLill Nasser Award for Professional Development in Genetics for Fall 2024!

Congratulations to GMB student Kylie VanDerMolen (Rob Dowen lab), whose paper will be published in the January 28 issue of Cell Reports.

Congratulations to UNC Genetics and Molecular Biology graduate student Jeanne Marie McPherson for receiving the 2024 Terry Magnuson Award!

Meet three Carolina researchers studying beverages, from beer to soda, to improve human health and sustainability for all. Genetics and Molecular Biology graduate student Rachel DuMez-Kornegay featured in UNC Research Endeavors series. She studies how kombucha affects gut microbiomes. Read full story at UNC Endeavors website.        ...

GMB Graduate Student Brandon Mouery and researchers in the lab of GMB Faculty Member Jean Cook, PhD, Chair and Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, have identified the cellular processes that occur when you take a cancer drug meant to stop rapid cell growth in tumors. Cancer cells...

Congratulations to Erica Branham for being awarded an F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Erica’s project is titled: “Stressful life events confer risk for chronic posttraumatic musculoskeletal pain through DNA methylation changes at the POMC promoter.”        

Congratulations to Gabi Quickstad for being awarded an F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research. Gabi’s project is titled: “Investigating the roles of the H3K4 methyltransferases KMT2C and KMT2D in chondrocyte differentiation and endochondral ossification.”          

Congratulations to Sarah Lester (they/them) for being awarded an F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Sarah’s project is titled: “Understanding the Genetic Contributions to Variation in Ozone Exposure Response.”          

Ana Berglind, a Genetics and Molecular Biology graduate student in Erin Heinzen’s Lab, is the recipient of a F99/K00 award from the National Institutes of Health. Her project title is “Discovery and functional characterization of somatic variation in intractable focal epilepsy”. The purpose of the Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition...

The UNC Department of Genetics joined together with the Department of Pharmacology, the Curriculum in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB), the Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB), and the UNC Office of Rural Initiatives to participate in a day of community outreach with “Camp Med” on Thursday, June 20....

Noor Singh (Kacy Gordon Lab) published an article titled “The Rac pathway prevents cell fragmentation in a nonprotrusively migrating leader cell during C. elegans gonad organogenesis” in Current Biology showing how a highly conserved small GTPase can prevent cell fragmentation during leader cell migration in C. elegans gonad morphogenesis.