Three students from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) have been awarded the Louis and Elsa Thomsen Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. The year-long fellowship was established in 1999 by the estate of Elsa Thomsen to support CALS graduate students who demonstrate excellence in research.
The 2024 recipients include Brittney Davidson (Laporta Lab, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences), Qixiang He (Lim Lab, Department of Biochemistry), and Eric McGregor (Anderson Lab, Department of Nutritional Sciences).
He, who is earning a Ph.D. in biophysics, studies DNA replication in telomeres, the protective caps made of repetitive DNA sequences and proteins found at the ends of human chromosomes. His research focuses on an enzyme complex called Polα-primase, which helps to jump start DNA replication.
Using assays and molecular imaging techniques including cryo-electron microscopy, He revealed an accessory protein known as CST. The protein helps to determine where Polα-primase starts to build short strands of genetic material known as primers at telomeres. His research has also explored Polα-primase’s role in controlling the length of these primers, a process which preserves fidelity since longer primers are prone to errors.
He’s findings have been published in Nature and Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
Now, with the fellowship funding, He will continue to explore the roles Polα-primase plays in telomeric DNA replication in his final year of graduate school. He hopes to uncover additional mechanisms of the Polα-primase primer synthesis.
“I am very thankful for this award,” says He. “It gives me confidence to know that my research is supported. I have always had lots of support from my advisor. I had to learn a lot of skills and techniques to do this research and he has supported me in that. I am honored that I was chosen for the nomination, and I am honored that I received this fellowship.”