Llaelyn Sierra-Cortez

Program: Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Current advisor: Joseph D. Dougherty, PhD

Undergraduate university: Linfield College, 2022

Enrollment year: 2023

Research summary

My dissertation will focus on identifying and functionally characterizing non-coding 3′ UTR Single Nucleotide Variant mutations that contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders, using high-throughput reporter assays.

Graduate publications
Plassmeyer SP, Florian CP, Chase R, Kasper MJ, Mueller S, Liu Y, McFarland White K, Sierra-Cortez L, Fischer AD, Jungers CF, Djuranovic SP, Djuranovic S, Dougherty JD. 2025 Approaches for identification of 5′ UTR mutations impacting translation and protein production from neurodevelopmental disorder genes. Cell Rep Methods, 5(12)::101247. PMCID: