Trisha Nell Davis (born May 27, 1954) is an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of "biological che ...

, the current

Earl Davie Earl Warren Davie (October 25, 1927 - June 6, 2020) was an American biochemist. He was a professor emeritus of biochemistry at the University of Washington. Davie studied the blood proteins involved in coagulation and was among the first scient ...

/ ZymoGenetics Chair of the department of biochemistry at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

. Her early research focused on

Calmodulin Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bi ...

, though the primary focus of her lab has since shifted to the molecular machinery of cell division in

budding yeast ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungus microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have been o ...

, especially the

microtubule organizing center The microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) is a structure found in eukaryotic cells from which microtubules emerge. MTOCs have two main functions: the organization of eukaryotic flagella and cilia and the organization of the mitotic and meiotic ...

s and the

kinetochore A kinetochore (, ) is a disc-shaped protein structure associated with duplicated chromatids in eukaryotic cells where the spindle fibers attach during cell division to pull sister chromatids apart. The kinetochore assembles on the centromere ...

Background and education

Trisha Davis received her BA in Computer Science and Biology from the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...

in 1976. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1983. She joined the University of Washington Department of Biochemistry in 1997 and became acting chair of the department in 2011. In 2013, she became the first female chair of the Department.

Work and discoveries

Davis's post-doctoral research focused on

in budding yeast After starting her own lab at the University of Washington, she discovered that

performs an essential function in the yeast

spindle pole body The spindle pole body (SPB) is the microtubule organizing center in yeast cells, functionally equivalent to the centrosome. Unlike the centrosome the SPB does not contain centrioles. The SPB organises the microtubule cytoskeleton which plays many r ...

, beginning the lab's gradual transition into the study of

mitosis In cell biology, mitosis () is a part of the cell cycle in which replicated chromosomes are separated into two new nuclei. Cell division by mitosis gives rise to genetically identical cells in which the total number of chromosomes is maint ...

. The Davis Lab has published extensively on the spindle pole body and on the

. Much of the recent research, conducted in collaboration with the Asbury Lab at the University of Washington, uses biophysical techniques such as

optical tweezers Optical tweezers (originally called single-beam gradient force trap) are scientific instruments that use a highly focused laser beam to hold and move microscopic and sub-microscopic objects like atoms, nanoparticles and droplets, in a manner simila ...

to quantify the microtubule-coupling activity of the kinetochore. Dr. Davis is also the director of the Yeast Resource Center (YRC), a Biomedical Technology Research Center supported by the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U ...

and National Institute of General Medical Studies.

Awards and recognition

In 2020, Davis was named to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Trisha 21st-century American biochemists American women biochemists 1954 births Living people 21st-century American women