Contact

Location: Physiology & Pharmacology April Risinger, Ph.D. Lab

Department

Pharmacology

Samantha (Sam) Yee

Graduate Student

Personal Statement:

Hometown: Ottawa ON, Canada Hobbies: Community outreach, working out, dancing, ice skating, and breast and ovarian cancer research      


Education

B.S. in Biology
Minor in Chemistry
St. Lawrence University
Canton, NY

Research

Women’s cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, cancer pharmacology, natural products, microtubule targeting agents

Awards & Accomplishments

National Cancer Institute F99/K00 predoctoral to postdoctoral fellow transition award recipient • UTHSA Cancer Research Training Program (RTA; RP 170345) January 2020-September 2021 • UTHSA GSBS Outstanding Leadership Award, 2021 • Featured scientist, September 2021 UTHSA Women in Medicine Month • UTHSA GSBS Travel Award, fall 2019 • Outstanding Graduate Student Poster Award, 26th Annual Graduate Student Symposium, 2019 • 1st Place in Research Design Class: Communicating Science Presentation, fall 2018 • Research image featured on cover page of 25th Annual Graduate Student Symposium Program, 2018

Affiliations

2014- Present              SLU Tri-Beta National Biological Honor Society- Member 2018- Present              American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) – Associate Member 2019- Present              National Ovarian Cancer Coalition: San Antonio Chapter- Member

Publications

Yee, S.S. and Risinger, A.L. Efficacy of a covalent microtubule stabilizer in taxane-resistant ovarian cancer models. Molecules. 2021, 26, 4077. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26134077 Stanton, N.A., Foultz, G., Contreras, J., Hastings, S.D., Yee, S.S., Arman, H.D., Risinger, A.L. Frantz, D.E. Synthesis and Biological Evaluations of a Novel Class of Electro-phillic Steroids Inspired by the Taccalonolide Covalent Microtubule Stabilizers. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. 2020 Nov 20; 11(12): 2534-2543. doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.0c00534. PMID: 33335677; PMCID: PMC7734803. Yee, S.S., Du, L., Risinger, A.L. Taccalonolide Microtubule Stabilizers. Prog Chem Org Nat Prod. 2020;112:183-206. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-52966-6_3. PMID: 33306174; PMCID: PMC7800047. Du, L.*, Yee, S.S.*, Ramachandran, K., Risinger, A.L. Elucidating target specificity of the taccalonolide covalent microtubule stabilizers employing a combinatorial chemical approach. Nat Commun. 2020 Jan 31;11(1):654. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-14277-w. PMID: 32005831; PMCID: PMC6994698. *co-first author Sharp, A.M, Lertphinyowong, S., Yee, S.S., Paredes, D., Gelfond, J., Johnson-Pais, T.L., Leach, R.J., Liss, M., Risinger, A.L., Sullivan, A.C., Thompson, I.M., Morilak, D.A. Vortioxetine reverses medial prefrontal cortex-mediated cognitive deficits in male rats induced by castration as a model of androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2019 Nov;236(11):3183-3195. doi: 10.1007/s00213-019-05274-4. Epub 2019 May 28. PMID: 31139875; PMCID: PMC6832770. Du, L., Risinger, A.L., Yee, S.S., Ola, A.R.B., Zammiello, C.L., Cichewicz, R.H., Mooberry, S.L. Identification of C-6 as a New Site for Linker Conjugation to the Taccalonolide Microtubule Stabilizers. J Nat Prod. 2019 Mar 22;82(3):583-588. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.8b01036. Epub 2019 Feb 25. PMID: 30799622; PMCID: PMC6952213. Sreelatha, A., Yee, S.S., Lopez, V.A., Park, B.C., Kinch, L.N., Pilch, S., Servage, K.A., Zhang, J., Jiou, J., Karasiewicz-Urbańska, M., Łobocka, M., Grishin, N.V., Orth, K., Kucharczyk, R., Pawłowski, K., Tomchick, D.R., Tagliabracci, V.S. Protein AMPylation by an Evolutionarily Conserved Pseudokinase. Cell. 2018 Oct 18;175(3):809-821.e19. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.08.046. Epub 2018 Sep 27. PMID: 30270044; PMCID: PMC6524645. Nguyen, K.B., Sreelatha, A., Durrant, E.S., Lopez-Garrido, J., Muszewska, A., Dudkiewicz, M., Grynberg, M., Yee, S., Pogliano, K., Tomchick, D.R., Pawłowski, K., Dixon, J.E., Tagliabracci, V.S. Phosphorylation of spore coat proteins by a family of atypical protein kinases. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Jun 21;113(25):E3482-91. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1605917113. Epub 2016 May 16. PMID: 27185916; PMCID: PMC4922149.