Marion Sewer (1972-2016) was a

pharmacologist Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemic ...

and professor at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences The Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is a graduate-level pharmacy school at the University of California, San Diego. It offers five educational programs: * Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree awarded in a four-year progr ...

known for her research on

steroid hormone A steroid hormone is a steroid that acts as a hormone. Steroid hormones can be grouped into two classes: corticosteroids (typically made in the adrenal cortex, hence ''cortico-'') and sex steroids (typically made in the gonads or placenta). Withi ...

biogenesis and her commitment to increasing diversity in science. Much of her research centered around

cytochrome P450 Cytochromes P450 (CYPs) are a superfamily of enzymes containing heme as a cofactor that functions as monooxygenases. In mammals, these proteins oxidize steroids, fatty acids, and xenobiotics, and are important for the clearance of various co ...

, a family of enzymes involved in the conversion of

cholesterol Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...

into

s. She died unexpectedly at the age of 43 from a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream ( embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include shortness of breath, chest pain particularly upon breathin ...

on January 28, 2016, while traveling through the Detroit airport.

Early life and education

Sewer was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands on October 28, 1972. She was raised in

Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands Saint John ( da, Sankt Jan) is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Saint John () is the smallest of the thre ...

. In 1993, she received a bachelor's of science in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

from

Spelman College Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman rece ...

where she participated in research as a Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) scholar. She went on to earn a PhD in pharmacology from

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

, for research into the regulation of

expression and activity in the liver and kidneys in the laboratory of Edward Morgan. This work was supported by a predoctoral fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She then pursued further training as a postdoctoral fellow at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

in the laboratory o
Michael R. Waterman
!-- This is not Michael Spencer Waterman whose Wikipedia page is

Michael Waterman Michael Spencer Waterman (born June 28, 1942) is a Professor of Biology, Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Southern California (USC), where he holds an Endowed Associates Chair in Biological Sciences, Mathematics and Computer ...

-->, where she studied

transcriptional regulation In molecular biology and genetics, transcriptional regulation is the means by which a cell regulates the conversion of DNA to RNA (transcription), thereby orchestrating gene activity. A single gene can be regulated in a range of ways, from al ...

of P450 enzymes with support from a UNCF/Merck Postdoctoral Scholarship.

Career

Sewer joined the faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2002, where she studied how cytochrome P450 enzymes regulate the production of steroid hormones. She received tenure in 2008 before moving to the

(UCSD) in 2009, where she rose to the rank of full professor in 2015. In addition to teaching pharmacology, she led a lab at the

researching how lipid metabolism is regulated and how this affects cells. She discovered that nuclear receptors are targets for a type of

lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids includ ...

s called

sphingolipid Sphingolipids are a class of lipids containing a backbone of sphingoid bases, a set of aliphatic amino alcohols that includes sphingosine. They were discovered in brain extracts in the 1870s and were named after the mythological sphinx because o ...

s and that specific sphingolipids and phospholipids could act as endogenous (natural) ligands (binding partners) for an important regulator of steroid hormone biosynthesis called

steroidogenic factor 1 The steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) protein is a transcription factor involved in sex determination by controlling activity of genes related to the reproductive glands or gonads and adrenal glands. This protein is encoded by the NR5A1 gene, a me ...

(SF-1). This showed that nuclear lipids could play a previously unknown role in regulating gene expression. Sewer was very active in the scientific community; she was a member of the editorial boards of '' Molecular Endocrinology'' and ''

Steroids A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

'' and served on numerous committees, including the Mentoring Committee of Women in Endocrinology, the Publications Committee of the

Endocrine Society The Endocrine Society is a professional, international medical organization in the field of endocrinology and metabolism, founded in 1916 as The Association for the Study of Internal Secretions. The official name of the organization was changed ...

, and the Minority Affairs Committees of the Endocrine Society and the

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a learned society that was founded on December 26, 1906, at a meeting organized by John Jacob Abel (Johns Hopkins University). The roots of the society were in the American Phy ...

(ASBMB). She co-founded and helped lead grant writing workshops and a mentorship program through the ASBMB to help advance the careers of underrepresented minority scientists. Her leadership roles included serving as Deputy Chair for the ASBMB Minority Affairs Committee (MAC) and associate director at UCSD's Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) program, which supports underrepresented minority postdoctoral fellows. She also served on

NIH The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

study sections on Training and Workforce development and Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology and was secretary/treasurer of the

American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) is a scientific society founded in late 1908 by John Jacob Abel of Johns Hopkins University (also the founder of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biol ...

(ASPET)'s Drug Metabolism Division.

Honors and awards

*Undergraduate Minority Access to Research Careers Scholarship, 1991-1993 * Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship, 1993-1998 * UNCF/Merck Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1998-2000 *

Travel Award, 2000 *Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scientist Award, 2002 *

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

Career Development Award, 2004 *

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2013 The

(ASBMB) established The Marion B. Sewer Distinguished Scholarship for Undergraduates in her honor to financially support undergraduate biochemistry and molecular biology students committed to increasing diversity in science.

Selected publications

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewer, Marion 1972 births 2016 deaths American pharmacologists United States Virgin Islands academics American biologists American women biologists Women biochemists Women pharmacologists Emory University alumni 21st-century American women