Andrea Guerrero (left) and Gina Turrigiano (right)
Andrea Guerrero, a Neuroscience PhD student working in the Turrigiano lab, a 2020 Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study recipient. The Gilliam Fellowship is awarded to the student and dissertation adviser, therefore Gina Turrigiano will also participate in this fellowship. Turrigiano said, “I am really pleased that Andrea was awarded this fellowship, which recognizes her potential to become a scientific leader. I am also really excited at the opportunity to improve my mentoring skills that this terrific program provides to me as her PhD advisor.”
The purpose of the Gilliam Fellowship is to increase diversity among scientists who are preparing for leadership roles, particularly as college and university faculty members. Fellows receive up to three years of support for dissertation research, typically in years three, four, and five of their PhD study. The Gilliam Fellowship is part of HHMI.
In response to receiving the award Guerrero said, “I am honored and excited to be selected as a 2020 HHMI Gilliam Fellowship recipient as it will aid my own advancement in an academic-track career and will importantly promote diversity and inclusion within the Brandeis science community.”
Andrea describes her research as follows:
“The human Shank3 gene is strongly associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Shank3 protein functions as a scaffold that plays a crucial role in synapse formation and maintenance. Prior work in our lab supports the idea that differential Shank3 phosphorylation alters its activity. Phosphomimetic and phosphodeficient mutants show dysfunction in the mechanisms that normally maintain brain circuitry homeostasis. In order to understand how Shank3 is able to do this, I will investigate how the phosphorylation state of Shank3 changes its synaptic localization, protein binding interactions, and cellular signaling pathways in vitro. Additionally, I will assess the effects of overexpression of Shank3 phosphorylation mutants on synaptic plasticity within the rodent primary visual cortex. My research project has the potential to uncover novel cellular pathways that can be targeted for ASD therapeutic development.”
