Title: Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: lsevers@fredhutch.org

Liza majored in Biology for her undergraduate studies at The University of Akron in Ohio. Her undergraduate research focused on developing therapeutic strategies for spinal cord injury was performed in the lab of Dr. Nic Leipzig in the Department of Chemical Engineering. She then joined the lab of Dr. Philip Horner at the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington to continue developing tools for spinal cord injury therapeutics. Liza’s interest in glial biology began when she joined the lab of Dr. Nino Ramirez at Seattle Children’s Research Institute for her doctorate, where she was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA F31) to study how astrocytes modulate sighing and normal breathing behavior in the respiratory circuits of the brainstem. Her experience studying neuron-glia communication during her PhD led her to seek out the lab of Dr. Aakanksha Singhvi in the Basic Sciences Division at Fred Hutch Cancer Center for her postdoctoral fellowship, where she is studying calcium signaling in C. elegans glia.

Liza was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Outside of her research interests, Liza loves the outdoors and takes part in many activities such as biking, running, hiking, backpacking, climbing, photography, gardening, and bird watching. Liza also enjoys hosting dinner parties with her husband, making excellent coffee, and snuggling her cat Chossy.