Annie Meyer Receives Glen de Vries Fellowship

Annie Meyer wants her research to help biology develop and evolve.

"All animals start off exactly the same, but it's development that establishes the diversity we see," said Meyer, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. "We have all these different concepts to try to understand how animals diverge, but it's really much more of a mess than we think."

Meyer investigates how multicellular organisms develop and with cells that transition and differentiate. A member of Veronica Hinman's lab, Meyer analyzes sea urchins and starfish.

Both echinoderms, sea urchins and starfish have overlapping genes and highly similar life cycles. However, sea urchins have two different types of cells that starfish do not, such as pigment cells that have immune functions. Meyer analyzes the genetics of these cells to see how they compare to cells in starfish.

"I found that even though pigment cells are novel to sea urchins, there are two populations of starfish cells that look similar," Meyer said. "One is immune, which makes sense, but the other one looks a lot like neurons. They express a lot of the same genes."

Based on her research, Meyer believes that the differences in cells are based on which genes are activated and which genes are not. Depending on which genes are activated, cells make different proteins, which have varying effects on cell function.

Hinman, Dr. Frederick A. Schwertz Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences and Meyer's advisor, said Meyer's work has advanced research in the Hinman lab and has the potential to advance the field of developmental evolutionary biology.

"Annie has used a comparative single cell sequencing to examine the relationships between cell types and consequently frame inferences about how cell types evolve," Hinman said. "It's a very hot area of research as people are beginning to examine old assumptions about what constitutes a cell type and how they evolved in light of new data from single cell sequencing. Annie's work has been at the forefront of these new ideas."

Besides her research, Meyer regularly works with undergraduates. She mentors undergraduate students in the Hinman lab, and she has served as a teaching assistant in Hinman's course on evolution.

"I basically get to share how much I love evolution and biology and why the students should love it, too," Meyer said. "It's been so much fun, and I love being able to connect with the students. It challenges me to think about things in new ways."

Meyer has spread her excitement about evolution to the Pittsburgh community. Along with other members of the Hinman lab, she helped create a display on echinoderms for the Carnegie Science Center's Girls Rock Science event and offered interactive experiences to local Girl Scouts.

"I want to encourage elementary school and middle school girls to think about careers in science," Meyer said. "I can show them what it's like to be a biologist and look at these cool animals and fossils."

Because of her work in and outside the lab, Meyer received the Glen de Vries Fellowship. The fellowship, which was created by Mellon College of Science alumnus Glen de Vries, recognizes outstanding research and potential in Ph.D. students studying biological sciences.

"Annie's independence in getting challenging protocols to work and her mix of experimental and computational approaches make her stand out," Hinman said. "She is exceptional at mixing experimental and computational skills in her project, and she is a dedicated mentor to undergrads in the lab."