ANNA U. LOWEGARD, PH.D. (214)208-2370 [email protected]
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ANNA U. LOWEGARD, PH.D. (214)208-2370 [email protected] www.linkedin.com/in/annalowegard www.annalowegard.com I am highly organized and value attention to detail in all of my endeavors. I enjoy working independently as well as in collaborative, interdisciplinary teams. I have worked on a variety of biologically significant systems and can quickly adapt to new challenges as I am a fast learner and adept at problem solving. I have significant experience in communicating interdisciplinary research to broad and diverse audiences. I hope to use these skills to continue to bridge the gap between computational approaches and traditional experimental techniques. TECHNICAL SKILLS • Developing, implementing, and using algorithms in a high-performance computing (HPC) envi- ronment • Computational structure-based protein design and related tools, including rotamer and loop ex- ploration, molecular dynamics, and homology modeling • Expertise in protein visualization software • Using protein structure and molecular simulation to optimize and engineer the binding of one protein to another • Strong working knowledge of antibody structure and function • Working knowledge of bioinformatics tools and databases • Training in statistics • Experience reviewing and writing scientific literature – Java – PyMol – Linux – Python – Amber – Mac – Shell – LATEX – Windows – Scheme/Lisp – MATLAB – Microsoft Office RESEARCH & EXPERIENCE Lab of Bruce R. Donald, Duke University, Durham, NC August 2014 - Present Doctoral Candidate Working with Bruce Donald and his group to use and develop structure-based protein design algo- rithms. Texas Advanced Computing Center, Austin, TX September 2011 - May 2013 Undergraduate Research Assistant Worked with Matthew Vaughn and Karla Gendler to develop a method using support vector machines to identify matrix attachment regions in a plant genome. Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, Houston, TX June 2011 - August 2011 Undergraduate Research Assistant, CPRIT Summer Undergraduate Experience Worked with Eric Boerwinkle adapting a weighted-sum statistical method to be applied to the X chro- mosome for use in disease association. NOTABLE FELLOWSHIPS & HONORS 2018 Duke University Graduate School Paul and Lauren Ghaffari Graduate Fellowship Recipient 2018 Duke University Department of Computer Science Outstanding Teaching Award Recipient 2018 PhRMA Foundation Pre Doctoral Fellowship in Informatics Recipient 2013 Duke University Chancellor’s Scholarship Recipient EDUCATION Duke University, Durham, NC August 2013 - May 2019 Doctor of Philosophy Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, Certificate in Structural Biology & Biophysics Dissertation: Novel Algorithms and Tools for Computational Protein Design with Applications to Drug Resistance Prediction, Antibody Design, Peptide Inhibitor Design, and Protein Stability Prediction GPA: 3.74/4.00 The University of Texas, Austin, TX August 2009 - May 2013 Bachelor of Science with Honors Mathematics, Specialization in Scientific Computation GPA: 3.72/4.00 The University of Texas, Austin, TX August 2009 - May 2013 Bachelor of Science with Honors Biology, Concentration in Computational Biology GPA: 3.72/4.00 PUBLICATIONS Jou, J.D.y, Holt, G.T.y, Lowegard, A. U., & Donald, B.R. (2019). Minimization-Aware Recursive K* (MARK*): A Novel, Provable Algorithm that Accelerates Ensemble-based Protein Design and Provably Approximates the Energy Landscape. In International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology (pp. 101-119). Springer, Cham. Hallen, M. A., Martin, J. W., Ojewole, A., Jou, J. D., Lowegard, A. U., Frenkel, M. S., Gainza, P., Nisonoff, H.M., Mukund, A., Wang, S., Holt, G. T., Zhou, D., Dowd, E., & Donald B.R. (2018). OSPREY 3.0: Open-Source Protein Redesign for You, with Powerful New Features. Journal of Computational Chemistry, 39(30), 2494-2507. Ojewole, A.y, Lowegard, A.y, Gainza, P., Reeve, S. M., Georgiev, I., Anderson, A. C., & Donald, B. R. (2017). OSPREY predicts resistance mutations using positive and negative computational protein design. In Computational Protein Design (pp. 291-306). Humana Press, New York, NY. yThese authors contributed equally PRESENTATIONS Lowegard, A., Frenkel, M., & Donald, B. (2018). Predicting the Effect of Mutations in the KRas/c-Raf- RBD Protein-Protein Interface. Biophysical Journal, 114(3), 576a. Martin, J.W., Lowegard, A. U., Frenkel, M. S., Hallen, M.A., Ojewole, A., Jou, J.D., Wang, S., Holt, G.T., & Donald, B.R. (2018). OSPREY 3.0: Open-Source Protein Redesign for You, with Powerful New Features. Poster Presentation, Chicago, IL. INVITED TALKS March 7, 2016: Computational Design of Peptide Inhibitors for KRas PPIs. Structural Biology & Bio- physics Seminar, Duke University, Durham, NC. April 26, 2017: Computational Design of Peptide Inhibitors of KRas Protein-Protein Interactions. Sem- inar, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. April 26, 2017: Computational Design of Peptide Inhibitors of KRas Protein-Protein Interactions. Sem- inar, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden. November 16, 2017: Predicting the Effect of Point Mutations in the KRas/c-Raf-RBD Protein-Protein Interface. Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Student Seminar, Duke University, Durham, NC. October 2, 2018: Redesigning the KRas/c-Raf-RBD Protein-Protein Interface. Seminar, Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm, Sweden. October 4, 2018: Redesigning the KRas/c-Raf-RBD Protein-Protein Interface. Seminar, Uppsala Uni- versity, Uppsala, Sweden. October 8, 2018: Redesigning the KRas/c-Raf-RBD Protein-Protein Interface. Structural Biology Club Seminar, Karolinska University, Flemingsberg, Sweden. October 27, 2018: Using and Developing Computational Structure-based Protein Design Algorithms. Annual Biochemistry Retreat, Wrightsville Beach, NC. TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2017 Duke University, Department of Computer Science — Discrete Math for Computer Science Head Graduate Teaching Assistant • Lead a team of 10-15 undergraduate teaching assistants • Taught weekly recitation sections and lectured to a class of approximately 90 students 2018 Duke University, Department of Computer Science — Discrete Math for Computer Science Head Graduate Teaching Assistant • Lead a team of 10-15 undergraduate teaching assistants • Taught weekly recitation sections and lectured to a class of approximately 90 students OTHER NOTABLE EXPERIENCES • Attended the 2019 RECOMB conference in Washington D.C. • Co-organized the 2018 GradX talks, an event promoting the communication of on-going graduate research across Duke University • Presented at the 2018 62nd Annual Biophysical Society Meeting in San Francisco, CA • Presented at the 2018 26th Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology • Selected for the 2018 ComSciCon-Triangle workshop, a selective series focused on developing science communication skills • 2014-2017, Co-chaired the program in computational biology & bioinformatic’s student committee and planned numerous events • Nominated member of the 2015 and 2018 Hammes Teaching Award Selection Committee • 2018, Volunteered with a STEM outreach to local elementary school girls doing after-school pro- grams LANGUAGES English & Swedish.