Graduate Students

Our beloved graduate students.

Leah Colvin Wanshura

Leah attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Minnesota in 2003. Leah worked as an undergraduate laboratory assistant to support herself through 4-years of college. After college, Leah worked as junior scientist and medical technician for two years at the University of Minnesota. Leah entered Mayo Graduate School in 2005 with a strong interest in developmental biology and cancer biology. Leah's thesis project is to delineate the roles and molecular mechanisms of the regulated proteolysis in RAS-mediated tumorigenesis and cancer metastatsis in Drosophila and in human cancer cells. The primary focus of her work is to decipher the signaling events and molecules downstream of RAS that controls cell migratory behavior and cell-cell junction integrity. Ultimately, Leah hopes to find a way to reduce or even eliminate cancer metastatsis in the clinical arena. Leah and her colleagues have shown that epithelial integrity and cell migration can be modulated by RAS-regulated proteolytic pathway. She will take advantage of the well-established and genetically tractable system of Drosophila to begin to identify the molecular mechanisms and key signaling events that control RAS-mediated cell motility, cell movement and metastasis in vivo. Since the signaling pathways that Leah has been working on are highly evolutionarily conserved, Leah hope to apply the knowledge and principles gained from the model organism to help our cancer patients.

Leah is highly creative, artistic, intelligent and independent. Leah loves to create and to teach. She loves to discover nature's hidden treasures and mysteries. Leah is determined to pursue an academic career in the future. She is a perfectionist who likes to climb huge mountains (figuratively and literally). Leah would like to use the bench and her beautiful experiments to express her individuality and creativity.

Rebecca Schmidt

Rebecca (Becky) L. Schmidt is the first and proud recipient of the Mayo Clinic Pobanz Family Predoctoral Research Fellowship.

A Rochester native and a Mayo baby, Becky attended the Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She graduated summa cum laude, Valedictorian from the Lawrence University. In 2003, a summer undergraduate research fellowship (SURF) at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville inspired her intense interest in biomedical research and attracted her to the Mayo Graduate School. Becky returned to Mayo as a Ph.D. student in 2004. Becky's thesis project is to decipher the molecular mechanisms of the RAS-mediated tumorigenesis in vivo, and she hopes to identify an effective way to block and abolish human cancer formation in the future. The primary focus of her work is to understand the roles of SIAH E3 ligase-mediated proteolysis in RAS-dependent oncogenesis in human cancer cells and in the mouse models of lung and pancreatic cancers. Becky and her colleagues have shown that RAS-dependent pancreatic and lung tumorigenesis can be blocked by inhibiting SIAH E3 ligase function in vitro and in vivo. Her study has provided useful insights into altered proteolysis in cancer biology and advanced our understanding of RAS-regulated proteolysis in tumor initiation, progression, and oncogenesis. Becky is currently trying to develop anti-SIAH molecules (such as siah siRNA, viral delivery of SIAHproteolysis-resistant to cancer cells, small inhibitor approaches) as anti-cancer reagent for treating lung and pancreatic cancer in mice. Her study has shown promising translational value and should provide new insights and avenues for diagnosis, anti-SIAH-proteolysis-based therapeutic intervention and treatment of human cancer in the clinical setting.

Becky loves to read, think, and teach. She loves to decipher the biggest puzzles/outstanding questions confronting the leading scientists in the fields of cancer biology and innate immunity. Becky is determined to pursue an academic career in the future, and she will continue to explore the wonders of the Universe until she is 120 years old.

Publications

1. Schmidt, R. L., Park, C. H. Ahmed, A. U., Gundelach, J.H., Reed, N. R., Cheng, S., Knudsen, B. E. and A. H. Tang. (2007)Inhibition of RAS-Mediated Tumorigenesis by Targeting the downstream E3 Ubiquitin Ligase, SIAH. Cancer Research, 67, 11798-11810.
2. Schmidt, R. L., Trejo, T. R., Plummer, T. B. Platt, J. L. and A. H. Tang. (2007) The Infection-Induced Proteolysis of PGRP-LC Controls the IMD Activation and Melanization Cascades in Drosophila. FASEB J. 22 (3) in press.