Crislyn D'Souza-Schorey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crislyn D'Souza-Schorey | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (PhD, 1992) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Notre Dame |
Crislyn D'Souza-Schorey is an American-Indian biologist. She is the Morris Pollard Professor and former Department Chair of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. D'Souza-Schorey researches how membrane trafficking impacts cell motility under normal conditions and in disease states.
D'Souza-Schorey was born and raised in Bombay, India. She completed her bachelor's degree in India at the age of 19 and remained there for her Master's degree.[1] D'Souza-Schorey then moved to the United States where she completed her PhD at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 1992.[2]
Following her PhD, D'Souza-Schorey accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine. In this role, she began researching therapeutics and diagnostics tools to cure cancer, specifically ARF6.[1] Her research led to the discovery that ARF6 played a role in endosomal membrane trafficking and also governed structural organization at the cell surface.[3]
Career
Following her postdoctoral fellowship, D'Souza-Schorey joined the University of Notre Dame faculty as the Walther Cancer Institute Junior Chair in 1998.[4] Upon starting her own laboratory, she found that ARF6 regulated cell-cell contact.[3] D'Souza-Schorey then began looking into how epithelial cells developed by examining how the protein affected and altered tumor cells.[5][6]
In 2009, she published a paper which identified a unique population of microvesicles that are enriched in proteases-mediators of tissue degradation. The release of these microvesicles provides a mechanism of tissue breakdown and remodeling at distant sites.[7] As a result of her academic accomplishments, D'Souza-Schorey was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012.[8]
In 2014, D'Souza-Schorey became the first woman to be appointed the Department Chair of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame.[9][10] While serving in this role, she received a patent for a method for detecting invasive microvesicles derived from tumor cells.[11] In 2020, D'Souza-Schorey was recognized with the school's Faculty Award for her "outstanding service to the University such as through leadership activities, mentoring faculty colleagues, or exemplary dedication to students."[12] Later that year, she stepped down as department chair and was replaced by Jason Rohr.[13] In 2022, D'Souza-Schorey was named co-editor-in-chief of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology BioAdvances journal.[14]
