Women Scientists in Action
Jennifer Stine Elam, Ph.D.
Jennifer Stine Elam, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research (cWIDR) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri is this month’s featured successful junior woman scientist. As cWIDR Managing Director, Dr. Elam is helping to develop interdisciplinary research programs, collaborations, activities, and community outreach around the study of infectious diseases that affect women and their families. Over the past year, she has also been working closely with the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health in their long range strategic planning effort, playing a critical role in organizing the first conference in the series of regional scientific workshops “Moving Into the Future: New Dimensions and Strategies for Women’s Health Research” held March 4-6, 2009 in St. Louis.
Dr. Elam became interested in the intersection of women’s health and infectious disease as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Scott J. Hultgren’s laboratory at Washington University, which focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis, especially in urinary tract infection (UTI). A biochemist and macromolecular X-ray crystallographer by training, Dr. Elam’s research focused on understanding the detailed structural mechanisms of the assembly and regulation of extracellular amyloid fibers produced by E. coli. These fibers, called curli, share molecular properties with other amyloidogenic proteins that cause disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and play an important role in bacteria’s response to environmental stress and in their ability to evade host defenses in UTIs.
Dr. Elam received B.A. degrees in Biochemistry and English from Rice University in 1998. While at Rice, she studied homologous DNA recombination by RecA in the laboratory of Dr. Scott F. Singleton. As a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. P. John Hart at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas, Dr. Elam went on to study how point mutations in the protein copper-zinc superoxide dismutase cause familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the inherited form of Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was awarded her Ph.D. in Biochemistry in May 2004. Her dissertation work sparked Dr. Elam’s interest in the molecular structure of amyloid proteins and the steps leading to amyloid fiber formation and led her to Dr. Hultgren’s laboratory for her postdoctoral training.
Throughout her time as a postdoc, Dr. Elam was heavily involved in authorship and writing for fellowships and research grants, both for her training and for a variety of other research projects in the lab. She enjoyed working with scientists and clinical fellows from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise to get at larger research questions that bring together the power of basic science and the direct study of disease in the patient. These broader interests led Dr. Elam to develop the position of Managing Director with Dr. Hultgren as the cWIDR was being created.
The cWIDR was established at Washington University in St. Louis in 2008 under Director, Scott J. Hultgren, Ph.D. as the first research center in the world specifically focused on studying the impact of sex and gender on the etiology and susceptibility to diseases caused by microbial pathogens. A combination of newly recruited investigators and existing research groups from several disciplines and departments collaborate in the Center to study the microbial pathogenesis of diseases including: urinary tract infection, sexually transmitted diseases, infections that lead to complications in pregnancy, involvement of biofilms in the establishment and persistence of microbial diseases, cancers associated with infective agents, such as cervical cancer, the importance of infections in other diseases including neurodegenerative disorders and heart disease, and the application of new computational and genomic techniques to the study of these diseases. The cWIDR was founded on the belief that a cross-discipline, translational approach will be critical to fully understand and treat these often intractable diseases and infections.
In her role as Managing Director of the cWIDR, Dr. Elam wears many hats. In the last year, in addition to leading efforts on the “Moving Into the Future…” conference, the cWIDR Opening Symposium, and the writing of four research grants, she has worked with the cWIDR Director to develop the Center’s strategic plan, solicited membership from over 40 established faculty, supported the recruitment of 2 young molecular microbiology faculty to the Center, networked with potential donors and corporate sponsors, developed promotional materials, and established connections with research and advocacy groups at the university and in the community. Of her many roles, Dr. Elam says, “I view my job as facilitating the great science in women’s health and infectious disease that goes on at Washington University. I try to help individual and groups of faculty in any way I can to propose and acquire funding for more interdisciplinary, collaborative projects that can aid in our understanding of health and disease and make a difference in the lives of women and their families. In this position, I have a unique opportunity to capitalize on my strengths as both a scientist and a writer and to be a part of the science and discoveries of many PIs.”
cWIDR Director, Dr. Hultgren says of Dr. Elam, “Her energy, ability to connect and communicate with scientists and non-scientists alike, and leadership have made a huge difference in the success of our growing Center and what we have been able to accomplish this first year. She is vital part of the cWIDR team.” Dr. Elam adds, “It is really exciting to be involved in the very beginnings of this effort and to see the growing impact the cWIDR is making scientifically, on women’s health, and in the community. I am honored to be a part of it.”
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