Overview
Dr. Sawyer studies organ boundary communication and non-stem-cell mechanisms of repair in the Fox Lab.
Dr. Sawyer is also dedicated to teaching and mentorship.
Dr. Sawyer is also dedicated to teaching and mentorship.
- Director of of the Amgen Scholars Program at Duke: AMGEN
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Assistant Research Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
·
2018 - Present
Pharmacology & Cancer Biology,
Basic Science Departments
Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Biology
·
2024 - Present
Biology,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Recent Publications
Loofah suppresses cell death in long-lived Drosophila hindgut enterocytes.
Journal Article Development · December 15, 2025 Tissue maintenance in the presence of cell death-promoting insults requires a host of molecular mechanisms. Many studies focus on cell renewal through regeneration, while fewer studies explore mechanisms that promote cell longevity despite cell death stimu ... Full text Link to item CiteEmergence of cellular nematic order is a conserved feature of gastrulation in animal embryos.
Journal Article Nat Commun · July 1, 2025 Cells undergo dramatic morphological changes during embryogenesis, yet how these changes affect the formation of ordered tissues remains elusive. Here, we show that a phase transition leading to the formation of a nematic liquid crystal state during gastru ... Full text Link to item CiteOrb2 enables rare-codon-enriched mRNA expression during Drosophila neuron differentiation.
Journal Article Nat Commun · June 20, 2024 Regulation of codon optimality is an increasingly appreciated layer of cell- and tissue-specific protein expression control. Here, we use codon-modified reporters to show that differentiation of Drosophila neural stem cells into neurons enables protein exp ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Amgen Scholars Program at Duke Year 3-4
Inst. Training Prgm or CMECo Investigator · Awarded by Amgen Foundation, Inc. · 2025 - 2027Polyploidy after tissue injury: a Drosophila model
ResearchAssistant Research Professor · Awarded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences · 2016 - 2026Amgen Scholars Program at Duke
Inst. Training Prgm or CMECo Investigator · Awarded by Amgen Foundation, Inc. · 2023 - 2025View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ·
2010
Ph.D.