An assistant professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center, Sally Ellingson uses computational biology to decode DNA to help researchers better understand different types of cancer and develop cancer-fighting drugs.

Using machine learning techniques, researchers can add large amounts of biomedical data into the drug development process to determine what factors increase the accuracy and efficiency of predictions. Part of Ellingson’s research focuses on factors affecting predictions of “drug binding” – the process of drugs attaching to proteins. The better the predictions, the faster and safer the development process.

While doing this, she said, she became interested in pinpointing biases in the data that can affect the accuracy of the results.

“This has real world applications outside of drug binding predictions too. These methods can be used to better understand and handle gender and racial biases inherent in clinical datasets as well.”

When Ellingson started college, she planned to study art. She gravitated toward digital art because it seemed a more stable career option.

“I discovered I was better at the technical side and became interested in how computers work,” she said. “I started a computer science program which involved taking higher level math courses and fell back in love with math.”

Along the way, she became interested “in using these fields as tools to study important and impactful problems.”

She earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematical sciences and computer science, both from the Florida Institute of Technology. Then in 2014, she earned her PhD in Genome Science and Technology, a University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute program that combines the resources of UT and ORNL.

“I chose Genome Science and Technology because of the rotation program and access to scientists and facilities at ORNL,” she said. “I wanted to be more submerged in the biology side since it is where I was lacking in my training. I was able to join early and work in a biochemistry lab, get a diverse training in bioinformatics and computational biology, and have access to the fastest supercomputers in the world.”

Although she doesn’t teach, she mentors students and engages in outreach activities.

Ellingson lives in Lexington, Ky., with her daughter Kyla, now a high school senior. When she’s not working, she enjoys hiking, biking, and camping.

A love and understanding of science. The value of mentorship. These are among the important lessons Jerreme Jackson gleaned from his time in UT-ORII’s Genome Science and Technology PhD program at UT Knoxville.

Jackson is now trying to share those benefits with his own students. As an assistant professor of biology at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Jackson wants to make sure students from underrepresented populations recognize the opportunities that exist in STEM disciplines. 

“I would not be where I am today had it not been for all of the mentors I had along the way,” he said. The teachers and advisers who guided him through his education journey “uniquely impacted my development as a young scientist.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in genetics from the University of Kansas in 2002, Jackson worked as a scientist at Seikisui XenoTech LLC and Hill’s Pet Nutrition for several years before returning to school.

“I chose the GST program because the faculty’s expertise covered a tremendous range of categories,” he said. He was sure he could find an advisor he clicked with – and who would stretch his thinking.

In the GST program, his research focused on what happens in the digestive tract of the tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens) when it ingests certain toxins expressed in genetically modified crops.

“I used insect bioassays, molecular biology, immunohistochemistry, and microscopy,” he said. His graduate advisor “laid the foundation by teaching me insect physiology and molecular approaches used to characterize gene function.”

After completing his PhD in 2015, Jackson went on to do postdoctoral research at Oklahoma State University. Now at the University of Northern Iowa, Jackson’s research builds on his earlier work.

Today, he studies bacteria living in the guts of two insects – the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) and the corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea) – in hopes of gaining knowledge that can improve scientists’ understanding of factors affecting bacteria critical to the human digestive process.

“As humans living on earth, we have to be able to get food from our environment. Likewise, the bacteria that reside in our intestinal microbiome have to get nutrients or else they will fail to remain colonized. The genes that bacteria use to stably colonize will highlight the environmental conditions they face as well as what nutrients they are metabolizing to make energy.”