As a researcher, Dr. Jane Lopilato came late to teaching, discovering it as a post-doctoral fellow at Tufts Medical School where she was given the opportunity to teach medical students molecular biology. To her surprise, it was rewarding to get their interest. While another post-doc fled to the lab and remains in the lab to this day, Dr. Lopilato thrived in teaching. She came to Simmons and started out by teaching General Biology and then Cell Biology, Genetics, and Molecular Biology.
Dr. Lopilato values research and knows the importance of labs in making courses come alive. It was one of the aspects at Simmons that attracted her, the emphasis on labs. Lab work in both courses and research with students provides hands-on experiences and skills. She finds working with seniors on their capstone projects one of the most gratifying experiences and considers it a privilege.
Over the years, Dr. Lopilato has explored various model systems but keeps coming back to E. coli. She gained experience with yeast investigating nuclear import and export at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, embryonic mouse stem cells and X chromosome inactivation at Mass General Brigham Hospital, pathogenic bacteria (Vibrio cholerae) at Boston Children’s Hospital, and antibiotic resistance in E. coli at the Antimicrobial Discovery Center at Northeastern University.
Dr. Lopilato is honored to serve as the Chair of the Biology Department which houses five majors, Biology, Biology/Environmental Science track, Biochemistry, Health and Exercise Science, and Neuroscience & Behavior. The dedicated faculty make these majors happen and provide research opportunities to all our students.
Education
- PhD, Harvard University, Cell and Developmental Biology, Harvard Medical School
- BA, Emmanuel College, Biology
Area of Expertise
- Molecular Genetics
Courses
- BIOL 336 Genetics
- BIOL 337 Molecular Biology
- BIOL 338 Microbial Pathogenesis
Grants
- Co-Principal Investigator, NASA_MUREP WCU
- Member of the HHMI IE3 Program at Simmons University
Professional Affiliations & Memberships
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- American Society for Microbiology
Shout-outs from Students and Alums
Annie Chen '21 Receives Prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to University of Edinburgh
Simmons University is excited to announce that Annie Chen '21 has been selected for a one-year Master of Science (MSc) in Quantitative Genetics and Genome Analysis at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.