Name: Donnell White, III
Year in Program: G3
Department: Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Mentor: Dr. Qinglin Yang, PhD
Hometown: Monticello, AR
Education: B.S. in Biology and Biochemistry - University of Arkansas at Monticello
Past Research Experience:
Doctoral Student Researcher
LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA
Project Title: Genomic Rearrangement in Non-Coding Region of Chromosome 1 Leads to Spontaneous Obesity and Type II Diabetes
Mentor: Qinglin Yang, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology, Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology
Skills acquired include live animal husbandry and breeding, genotyping, echocardiogram and analysis, metabolic assays (glucose and insulin monitoring, metabolic cage, body composition) mitochondrial metabolic assays (Seahorse & Oroboros), enzyme kinetic complex assays, cell culture for numerous cell lines, stromovascular fraction cell isolation (SVFC) and culture, SVFC differentiation into adipocytes, mouse embryonic fibroblast isolation and culture, cell transfection and transduction, gene therapy via AAV and adenovirus, standard molecular biology assays (DNA cloning, western blotting, ELIZAs, PCR, qPCR), experimental design, lab organization and management, instruction in writing and reviewing papers/grants, and editing manuscripts.
Medical Student Summer Researcher
LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA
Project Title: MC4 Receptor as a Potential Target for Treating Rats with Co-Morbid Pain Disorders
Mentor: Nicholas Gilpin, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology
Skills acquired include live animal husbandry, operant conditioning, and behavioral assays; mechanical conflict avoidance system, Hargreaves’, and Von Frey.
Post-baccalaureate Research Fellow
National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD
Project Title: Evaluating the Function of KIR2DL1 Antisense Transcript in Natural Killer Cells using CRISPR/Cas9
Mentor: Stephen Anderson, Ph.D., Senior Investigator
Skills acquired include flow cytometry, DNA cloning, cell culture, PCR, FACS analysis, western blotting, transfection, DNA sequencing, and gene editing via CRISPR/Cas9 technology.
Colorado Cancer Summer Research Fellow
University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO
Project Title: Characterizing the Maintenance Role of MLL1 in Human Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Mentor: Patricia Ernst, Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics
Skills acquired include electrophoresis, western blotting, transfection, DNA/RNA isolation and purification, polymerase chain reaction, live animal husbandry, tissue culture, introduction to gene editing via CRISPR/Cas9 technology.
Undergraduate Summer Research Intern
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, AR
Project Title: Pediatric Cardiology Ordering Practices for Initial Out-Patient Echocardiograms
Mentor: Sean Lang, MD, Pediatric Cardiologist, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Skills acquired include clinical chart reviews and basic statistical analysis.
Undergraduate Student Researcher
University of Arkansas at Monticello
Project Title: Determination of Fatty Acid Content in Algae
Mentor: Andrew Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Chemistry
Skills acquired include lyophilization of algae, lipid extraction, filtration, esterification,
hexane extraction, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis.
Publications:
Research Articles
Zhiheng Liu, Xu Gao, Zhou Zhou, Sung Wook Kang, Yong Yang, Hao Liu, Chunqin Zhang, Zheng Wen, Xiaoquan Rao, Daowen Wang, Donnell White III, Qinglin Yang, and Qinqiang Long. “San1 deficiency leads to cardiomyopathy due to excessive R-loop-associated DNA damage and cardiomyocyte hypoplasia”. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Molecular Basis of Disease. July 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2021.166237.
White D., III, S. Justice, and A. Williams. “Determination of Fatty Acid Content in Algal Class Eustigmatophyceae”. Arkansas Aerospace Proceedings. April 2017. 3:1-6.
Review Articles
White D III, Yang Q. Genetically Encoded ATP Biosensors for Direct Monitoring of Cellular ATP Dynamics. Cells. 2022; 11(12):1920. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11121920
Published Abstracts
Donnell White, Jian Wu, Lothar Lauterboeck, Sung Wook Kang, Mona Elgazzaz, Suresh Alahari, Eric D. Lazartigues, Qinglin Yang; 1272-P: Genomic Rearrangement in Noncoding Region of Chromosome 1 Leads to Spontaneous Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes 1 June 2022; 71 (Supplement_1): 1272–P. https://doi.org/10.2337/db22-1272-P
White, D.D., III, Wu, J., Lauterboeck, L., Kesterson, R. and Yang, Q. (2022), Genomic Rearrangement in Non-coding Region of Chromosome 1 Leads to Spontaneous Obesity and Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction. The FASEB Journal, 36:. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.S1.R5733
Donnell White, Lothar Lauterboeck, and Qinglin Yang. “Real-time Visualization of Cytosolic and Mitochondrial ATP Dynamics in Response to ADP/ATP Carrier Inhibition in Cultured HEK293T Cells”. Molecular Biology of the Cell, Volume 32, Issue 22. 29 November 2021.
Donnell White, Jian Wu, Rong Bao, Lothar Lauterboeck, Bob A Kesterson, Qinglin Yang. “HFpEF in Spontaneously Obese Mice Due to Genomic Rearrangement in Non-Coding Region of Chromosome 1”. Circulation, Volume 144. November 2021. https://doi.org/10.1161/circ.144.suppl_1.13471
White, D., III, Lauterboeck, L. and Yang, Q. (2021), Simultaneous Evaluation of Mitochondrial and Cytosolic ATP Dynamics in Cultured HEK293T Cells. The FASEB Journal, 35:. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2021.35.S1.05355
Opinion Article
“How to Address COVID-19 Skepticism: A Guide to Navigate Difficult Conversations” by Donnell White, III. June 1, 2022. Emerging Voices, Science Outreach. American Society for Cell Biology. https://www.ascb.org/science-outreach/how-to-address-covid-19-skepticism-a-guide-to-navigate-difficult-conversations
Current Research Interest: Metabolism, cellular metabolism, mitochondrial metabolism, Obesity, type II diabetes, endocrinology
Current Medical Interest: Hematology/Oncology, endocrinology
Career Goal: I want to actively treat patients while running a smaller lab of my own where I can pursue my own ideas and work with human samples directly from clinic. I would also really enjoy being involved in numerous clinical trials in a university hospital setting.
What makes you unique? I can sing the alphabet backwards.