Paula Ladd

I am a research scientist in the department of Pathology at the University of Washington, where our lab investigates the molecular mechanisms of aging. Our goal is to study the impact of variegated gene expression in human aging, thus the project is dependent on accurate gene expression measurement in individual cells of a single tissue sample. A confounding issue for this project is selecting a universal tissue preservation method that maintains the integrity of DNA, RNA, and protein without compromising the ability to generate single cells from the sample.

I received a B.S. and M.S. in Biological Sciences from Purdue University and a Ph.D. from the Indiana University School of Medicine. My research experience is in gene expression regulation, rare transcript identification, as well as dry storage of nucleic acids and proteins in paper format (Anal Chem and Lab Chip). The objective of dry storage is to create a sugar or candy shell around the macro-molecule of interest, and like candy, the sample can be stored dry, at room temperature.

August 2018