Bio-X SIGF Graduate Student Fellow

Awarded in 2013
Home Department: Biochemistry
Faculty Advisors: Aaron Straight (Biochemistry) and Andrew Spakowitz (Chemical Engineering)

Research Title: What makes an extremely stable chromosome associated protein stable?

Research Description: When a cell divides, it needs to give a copy of its genetic material to each daughter cell. To do so, the cell duplicates its DNA and pulls them apart. In vertebrates, each piece of DNA  is only pulled at a single location (called the centromere). Having more or less than one centromere or having incomplete centromeres results in DNA damage during cell division and unequal segregation of DNA, phenomena that often leads to cell death or disease states. Shengya is looking at factors that directly recognize where the centromere was and help maintain it.

WHERE IS SHE NOW?

Shengya is a Principal Scientist heading up the Receptor Discovery Group at Genentech in South San Francisco.