UW News

April 23, 2009

Linda Wordeman receives Guggenheim Fellowship

Linda Wordeman, UW professor of physiology and biophysics, has been named a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow. Wordeman, a member of the Center for Cell Dynamics at the UW’s Friday Harbor Laboratories, will use her fellowship to study the fundamental mechanisms underlying chromosome segregation and cancer development. She is developing new probes to image the dynamic chromosome movements in live echinoderm eggs.

For more than 100 years the eggs of clams, sea urchins and sand dollars have been important systems in helping scientists understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying chromosome segregation and cancer development. More recently, high-resolution fluorescent imaging techniques and improved instrumentation have enabled researchers to revisit this system as a means to better understand the detailed mechanisms underlying the reliable segregation of chromosomes during each cell division.

Wordeman received her doctorate in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley and has been a faculty member in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics since 1994.

Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of stellar achievement and exceptional promise for continued accomplishment. One of the hallmarks of the Guggenheim Fellowship program is the diversity of its Fellows. This year’s class includes authors, historians, performance artists, photographers, musicians, poets, mathematicians and scientists. In the 2009 U.S. and Canadian competition, 180 new fellows were selected from almost 3,000 applicants.