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Jean E. Feagin, Ph.D.
| Mission |
| B.A. |
Biology |
1974 |
Macalester College |
| Ph.D. |
Biological Sciences |
1982 |
Stanford University |
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Research |
| 1996 - Present |
Associate Professor, Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington. |
| 1993 - Present |
Associate Member (previously Senior Scientist; name change in 2000), Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. |
| 1993 - 1996 |
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington. |
| 1988 - 1993 |
Staff Scientist, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. |
| 1982 - 1988 |
Postdoctoral research in molecular parasitology with Dr. K. Stuart, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. |
| 1974 - 1981 |
Graduate research in eukaryotic gene structure and expression with Dr. R.T. Schimke, Stanford University. |
| 1973 - 1974 |
Undergraduate research in fungal gene expression with Dr. E.P. Hill, Macalester College. |
Select Honors and Awards
1993 - 1996 Burroughs Wellcome Fund New Investigator in Molecular Parasitology.
Field of study
I became interested in organelle genomes as an undergraduate because of the unique problems posed by co-coordinating expression of genes encoded in the organelles with those in the nucleus. In graduate school, I had an option to study molecular mechanisms of gene regulation or mitochondrial proteins – but not to combine them. I chose the former, planning to then apply molecular technology to mitochondrial gene expression during postdoctoral studies. Along the way, I also gained a strong interest in developmentally regulated gene expression. A desire to combine the two interests led me to a postdoctoral position studying the developmentally regulated mitochondrial genome of a protozoan parasite,
Trypanosoma brucei. That was my first introduction to parasitology and I was hooked.
I shifted focus to the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum when I set up my own lab and continue to find molecular parasitology fulfilling – often challenging, sometimes exasperating but always fascinating. Protozoan parasites like
P. falciparum employ unusual, and occasionally bizarre, molecular mechanisms to survive in their varied and often hostile environments. These mechanisms often require processes in the parasite that are absent from the human host and therefore are potential targets for intervention. To have both the intellectual stimulation of unraveling the fascinating biology of protozoan pathogens and the knowledge that what we learn may have major practical implications for world health is a classic case of having one’s cake and eating it too.
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