Our guest this week, Shauna Otto from the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, is a member of the lab of Dr. Colin Johnson. The focus of the Johnson lab is a group of proteins called ferlins. The ferlin family of proteins have many different functions, and many are involved in the fusion of vesicles to cell membranes in a process called, “exocytosis.” Another example is the protein otoferlin which fuses vesicles carrying neurotransmitters to the cell membrane of neurons in the inner ear that play a crucial role in hearing. See more about otoferlin from past guests from the Johnson lab, Murugesh Padmanarayana and Nicole Hams.

Shauna loading a sample for Cobalt-60 irradiation at the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory.

Shauna studies dysferlin, another ferlin protein, which helps mend membrane tears in muscle cells. Mutations in the dysferlin gene lead to Muscular Dystrophy II. Through her work, Shauna has characterized portions or “domains” of the large dysferlin protein via Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). NMR is a process by which the magnetic field around the nuclei of atoms in a protein domain are excited, and by recording the magnitude of that disruption, Shauna can learn the structure of the domain. Her focus domain putatively binds other proteins that join dysferlin in a protein complex that initiates muscle cell membrane repair. However, the mechanism by which dysferlin bind repair proteins is unclear. Through her explorations with dysferlin, Shauna has found that an increase in Calcium leads to the stabilization of the dysferlin domains that might initiate repair. Right now, it is unclear if this stabilization initiates muscle cell repair, but if it does the next question is how and when such stabilization occurs.

Shauna and husband (Kris Hill) backpacking in Yosemite

Shauna’s academic journey was wrought with hardship, and we are grateful to her for being willing to share her story with us on air. Shauna started undergraduate with an interest in marine biology, but found that college is cost prohibitive. After a two year break, she went back to University of California Long Beach to major in Chemical Engineering, but finally landed on biochemistry. She had a knack for chemistry and loved solving complex puzzles in cellular biology through the lens of protein interactions and biochemical pathways. She began undergraduate research, but her work took a turn as she struggled with homelessness. Homelessness is a growing problem for college students, and has prompted bills targeting the problem of home insecurity for students in California and Washington. However, for Shauna, homelessness was not discussed among fellow students and officials when she attended school. Rather, instead of resources to alleviate her financial hardship, she was met with policy allowances such as permission to sleep in her research lab.

Shauna and her daughter in a bookshop.

Since beginning her PhD at OSU, Shauna has found support here on campus from mentors and her department who have listened and replied with support in the form of University Resources and Services to help her succeed academically, financially, and in personal wellness. Given her past, Shauna now knows the questions to ask about support when seeking the next job, and she is a resource for undergraduates and graduate students who are going through similar life experience.

Hear more about Shauna’s research and personal story this Sunday June 2, 2019 at 7 pm on KBVR Corvallis 88.7FM. Stream the show live or catch the episode as a podcast in the coming weeks.