Our latest Personnel Spotlight features Dr. Lindsey Kent, Senior Scientist in the England Lab. She is a CRepHS researcher with a self-proclaimed enthusiasm for basic research and the reproductive field.
Lindsey grew up in Missouri and attended Truman State University in Kirksville,
Mo., for her B.S. in Biology. After college, she moved to Kansas City and worked
for several years as a Research Assistant at the University of Kansas Medical Center prior to joining their graduate program. Lindsey earned her Ph.D. in Reproductive and Developmental Biology from their Graduate Studies Program in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
During her graduate years, Lindsey studied how the AKT pathway regulates trophoblast differentiation and invasion under the mentorship of Dr. Michal J. Soares. For her postdoc she moved to Columbus, Ohio, to work with Dr. Gustavo Leone at The Ohio State University. There, she studied the role of the E2f family of transcription factors in cell cycle, liver cancer and development. When Dr. Leone’s lab moved to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, she moved,
too, and became a Senior Scientist.
Lindsey recalls that “she did not like hurricanes,” so after living in South Carolina for a few years, Missouri beckoned her back and into the WashU lab of Sarah K. England as a Senior Scientist. Since then, Lindsey has exceled in taking the time to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in fertility and pregnancy, and continues studying the role of the ion channel NALCN, and its subunits, in uterine smooth muscle excitability. This month marks her two year anniversary with the Department of Ob/Gyn and the England Lab.
“Teaching students in the lab is definitely one of my favorite aspects of my role here at WashU,” Lindsey states. “It’s rewarding to see trainees become more involved with reproductive health sciences, through experiments and observation, and then apply their new knowledge in the classroom.”
Dr. Lindsey Kent
When not in the lab, you may see Lindsey appreciating
the historic and unique craftsmanship of brick homes in and around her St. Louis neighborhood, and finding a bit of peace and quiet amongst the established shade trees and courtyard gardens.