Student Receives Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Science Foundation

Ms. Jenifer C. Utz, a doctoral student in the School of Life Sciences (SoLS), is the recipient of a prestigious, three-year Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The fellowship provides an annual stipend of $30,000 and an education allowance of $10,500 per year to support her studies.

Jenifer Utz

Ms. Utz works in the laboratory of Dr. Frank van Breukelen, where she studies the physiological mechanisms that control hibernation in the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus lateralis). Hibernation in mammals presents extreme physiological challenges at the cellular and organismal levels. Hibernating mammals experience metabolic rates that may be as low as 1% of active rates, and core body temperatures as low as -2°C. Ms. Utz is investigating the cellular mechanisms that allow these rodents to survive the physiological shifts that they experience 6-9 months of the year.

Ms. Utz's dissertation project has medical implications. As a result of her research, we may gain valuable insights as to how hibernators survive conditions that would be deadly to other mammals, including humans. Understanding the mechanisms of hibernation may suggest new ways to treat pathologies such as disuse atrophy (muscle wasting caused by immobilization), hypothermia, ischemia, obesity, and diabetes.

Funding from NSF is crucial to faculty and students actively engaged in research activities, and SoLS scientists compete successfully with peers across the nation for federal grants.