Assistant Professor Katherine Ralston Wins Innovation Award for Amoeba 'Cell Nibbling'
Katherine Ralston, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, College of Biological Sciences, is the recipient of the UC Davis Early Career Faculty Award for Creativity and Innovation for 2019.
The one-time award of $40,000 will support Ralston’s research into the recently discovered process of trogocytosis, in which cells bite pieces off each other.
Ralston initially discovered trogocytosis, or “cell nibbling,” in the single-cell gut parasite Entamoeba histolytica as a postdoc at the University of Virginia and has continued to work on it since joining UC Davis in 2014. Entamoeba apparently uses trogocytosis to attack and kill human cells, causing diarrhea and ulceration.