Seeing DNA with X-ray Vision
August 8, 2020, via Zoom webinar Dr. Amy Whitaker, Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the University of Kansas Medical Center guides participants through a broad overview of DNA, including what exactly it is, how it was discovered, what it looks like in 3D, how it manages to contain all of the genetic information that makes us into unique individuals, and how the code written by DNA is translated to physical characteristics in the human body. She then explores how DNA can become damaged, disrupting the genetic code and potentially leading to devastating diseases like cancer. She also discusses specialized repair systems that scour the DNA for damage in an effort to repair it before it can cause disease, highlighting her current scientific research at The University of Kansas Medical Center. The speaker: Dr. Amy Whitaker received her Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of St. Thomas in her hometown of Houston, Texas. While completing her undergraduate studies, she worked in a clinical position at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, where she first became exposed to cancer research. This experience motivated her to attend graduate school at Texas A&M University, where she obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics. After graduating in 2015, Amy moved to Kansas City to work as a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Genome Maintenance and Structural Biology under Associate Professor Dr. Bret Freudenthal.
