LIfe in the Lab: Ana White

Ana White

Ana White is a graduate student in the lab of associate professor of biology Casonya Johnson. Johnson's lab studies the genes of Caenorhabditis elegans, a tiny, transparent roundworm that's only a millimeter long but can give scientists insight into the genetic codes of other organisms - including humans.

As told to Jeremy Craig

"My goal is to discover more about protein-protein and DNA interactions and how those interactions take place. We know that some proteins function by switching other genes on and off. I am interested in understanding how proteins communicate with one another, and with DNA, to act as molecular switches at other genes. All multi-cellular organisms share similar biological processes. I hope that my work with C. elegans, which lives in the soil, will aid in further understandings of these processes in humans and other vertebrates.

I grew up in South Dakota, and originally I was a ballet dancer. I got married, had a couple of kids and then became a single parent. When they grew up, I decided to go back to school, as I was bartending and doing anything to make ends meet, basically. I started at Georgia Perimeter College and thought about going into physical therapy, and I found that, while I liked it, I didn't want to be a physical therapist.

After a few science courses at GPC, I found them fascinating. So I came here to Georgia State, and wanted to get into a lab. I was introduced to Dr. Johnson, and I wanted to test out the waters. It's been four years now. I got my undergraduate degree, I'm working on my master's and I'll be going into the Ph.D. program into the fall."