Annie Smelter

Graduate Student

Program: IBMS Physiology and Pharmacology

Discipline Lab Association: Luke Norton, Ph.D.

Personal Statement:

Annie Smelter is a graduate student in the South Texas Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD Program) studying metabolic diseases under the mentorship of Luke Norton, Ph.D.. For her research, Annie is working on studying the spatial metabolic effects of glucagon receptor agonism in the liver, as a basis for improving obesity therapeutics. For her clinical specialty, Annie is considering pursuing cardiology.

Education

B.S., Biology, Edgewood College, 2019

Research

Cardiovascular disease/Diabetes

Publications

Farrell, E. T., Grimes, A. C., de Lange, W. J., Armstrong, A. E., & Ralphe, J.C. (2017). Increased Postnatal Cardiac Hyperplasia Precedes Cardiomyocytes Hypertrophy in a Model of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Frontiers in Physiology, 8:414. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.00414

Farrell, E. T., Armstrong, A. E., Grimes, A. C., Naya, F. J., de Lange, W. J.,& Ralphe, J.C. (2017). Transcriptome Analysis of Cardiac Hypertrophic Growth in MYBPC3-null Mice Suggests Early Responders in Hypertrophic Remodeling. Frontiers in Physiology, 9:1442. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.01442

Shannon, C. E., Bakewell, T., Fourcaudot, M. J., Ayala, I., Smelter, A. A., Hinostroza, E. A., Romero, G., Asmis, M., Freitas Lima, L. C., Wallace, M., & Norton, L. (2024). The mitochondrial pyruvate carrier regulates adipose glucose partitioning in female mice. Molecular Metabolism, 88, 102005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2024.102005

Ayala, I., Hebbale, S. K., Mononen, J., Brearley-Sholto, M. C., Shannon, C. E., Valdez, I., Fourcaudot, M., Bakewell, T. M., Zagorska, A., Romero, G., Asmis, M., Musa, F. A., Sily, J. T., Smelter, A. A., Hinostroza, E. A., Freitas Lima, L. C., de Aguiar Vallim, T. Q., Heikkinen, S., & Norton, L. (2025). The Spatial Transcriptional Activity of Hepatic TCF7L2 Regulates Zonated Metabolic Pathways that Contribute to Liver Fibrosis. Nature Communications, 16(1), 3408. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58714-5

Smelter, A. A., Frei, C. R., & Smelter, D. F. (2025). Successful clearance of persistent Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia with high-dose continuous infusion cefazolin. ASM Case Reports, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.1128/asmcr.00114-24