Scholars@Duke
Jessica Sawyer

Jessica Sawyer

Assistant Research Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
jessica.sawyer@duke.edu
DUMC 3813, LSRC B234, Durham, NC 27710
308 Research Drive, DUMC 3813, LSRC B234, Durham, NC 27710

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.
  • Director of 2 undergraduate summer research programs at Duke: AMGEN and SURPH

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Assistant Research Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology · 2018 - Present Pharmacology & Cancer Biology, Basic Science Departments

Recent Publications

Orb2 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 Cite

Distinct responses to rare codons in select Drosophila tissues.

Journal Article Elife · May 6, 2022 Codon usage bias has long been appreciated to influence protein production. Yet, relatively few studies have analyzed the impacts of codon usage on tissue-specific mRNA and protein expression. Here, we use codon-modified reporters to perform an organism-wi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Accelerated cell cycles enable organ regeneration under developmental time constraints in the Drosophila hindgut.

Journal Article Dev Cell · July 26, 2021 Individual organ development must be temporally coordinated with development of the rest of the organism. As a result, cell division cycles in a developing organ occur on a relatively fixed timescale. Despite this, many developing organs can regenerate cel ... Full text Link to item Cite
View All Publications

Recent Grants

ASPET SURF Institutional Award

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics · 2018 - 2028

Amgen Scholars Program at Duke

Inst. Training Prgm or CMECo Investigator · Awarded by Amgen Foundation, Inc. · 2023 - 2026

Polyploidy after tissue injury: a Drosophila model

ResearchAssistant Research Professor · Awarded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences · 2016 - 2025

View All Grants

Education, Training & Certifications

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · 2010 Ph.D.