Amber R. Krauchunas PhD

Amber Krauchunas is an ​​Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware. Amber Krauchunas earned a B.A. in biology from Mount Holyoke College in 2006 and a Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics from Cornell University in 2012. During her Ph.D. studies, she identified proteins in D. melanogaster oocytes that change in phosphorylation state during egg activation. As these proteins are post-translationally regulated during this stage, they represent molecules that may be acting to control events of egg activation. She is now using forward genetics to find new genes that are necessary for successful fertilization and egg activation in C. elegans. She hopes that once we know more about the molecules involved in reproduction, we will be able to understand the signaling required to fuse a sperm and an egg and to be able to transition an oocyte into an embryo.