Magdalene K. Ameka completed her graduate work in the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Potthoff graduating with her PhD in August 2017.  Her thesis title was "The Role of Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF21) in Regulating Energy Homeostasis."  Magdalene's dissertation work focused on the mechanism of FGF21 in regulating energy expenditure, body weight and glycemia in an effort to define how FGF21 has anti-obesogenic and anti-diabetic effects. Members of her thesis committee were chair, Dr. Matthew Potthoff from the department of Pharmacology, Drs. Curt Sigmund, Justin Grobe, and Anne Kwitek from the department of Pharmacology, and Frederick Domann from the department of Free Radical Biology.

Dr. Ameka received her BS in Biochemistry and Biophysical Sciences from the University of Houston and entered the Molecular and Cell Biology Program (now Molecular Medicine Program) at the University of Iowa in 2013. She officially joined the Potthoff lab in the Department of Pharmacology in 2014 to begin the Ph.D. phase of her training.  Dr. Ameka will be conducting a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Alyssa Hasty at Vanderbilt University starting September 2017, where she will be investigating the role of iron handling in macrophages during obesity.

 CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Ameka!