Headshot portrait of Katherine Amberg-Johnson - William and Lynda Steere Fellow
Bio-X SIGF Graduate Student Fellow

Awarded in 2016
Home Department: Microbiology & Immunology
Faculty Advisors: Ellen Yeh (Biochemistry, Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology) and Matthew Bogyo (Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology)

Research Title: Novel inhibitors of malaria parasites

Research Description: In 2013, the World Health Organization estimated that malaria parasites caused 198 million clinical episodes and 500,000 deaths. New therapeutics and a deeper molecular understanding of parasite biology are desperately needed to combat growing resistance to current antimalarials. By targeting a novel compartment of the parasite not found in the human cell, Katherine aims to develop a novel antimalarial for clinical applications as well as a tool to better understand the parasite biology. 

WHERE IS SHE NOW?

Katherine is a principal scientist at Schrodinger, a biotechnology company that uses a physics-based computational platform to accelerate drug development.