In 2025, Molecular Genetics Alumna Louise Rodino Klapac (Ph.D. 2005) provided a generous gift to the department to support graduate research. In August 2026, she visited campus, and we were able to spend time with her.

Dr. Rodino-Klapac spent time talking with department chair, Susan Cole, and with the four inaugural awardees of the Rodino-Klapac fund.

• Rabab Abu Alhasan (Molecular Genetics Ph.D. candidate in the Singh lab) was able to apply high throughput mass spectrometry techniques to accelerate her identification of protein components in complexes that drive nonsense-mediated decay.
• Jackson Hastings (Molecular Genetics Ph.D. candidate in the Hopper lab) utilized high throughput mass spectrometry techniques to confirm and expand his list of proteins involved in tRNA export from the cell’s nucleus.
• Ian Santiago (Molecular Genetics Ph.D. candidate in the Dawes lab) was able to expand his analyses of the genetic pathways that drive asymmetric cell division in polarization in the C. elegans embryo beyond RNA interference by generating genetic knockout strains and utilizing drug treatments.
• Nathen Zavada (Molecular Genetics Ph.D. candidate in the Cole lab) was supported for the summer to accelerate his work developing cell lines to interrogate the roles of atypical Notch ligands in regulation of embryonic cell signaling.

Dr. Rodino-Klapac also toured the zebrafish facility and learned about the BioEYES service learning class from Sharon Amacher and new faculty member Margot Kossman Williams, and toured the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) with Emma Knee, Chris Calhoun, and David Somers.

We thank her so much for her time, wisdom, and generosity!