Jenna L. Jewell PhD

Jenna Jewell is from Durango Colorado, where she received a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.A. in Political Science from Fort Lewis College. Jenna obtained her Ph.D. in 2010 from Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN. Her graduate work in Dr. Debbie Thurmond's lab focused on understanding how SNARE proteins modulate glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells and peripheral tissue glucose uptake, and how defects in these processes can result in diabetes.

Jenna completed her postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Kun-Liang Guan at the University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA. During this time she was awarded fellowships from the Cancer Therapeutics Training Program and The Hartwell Foundation. In March 2015, Jenna joined the faculty at UT Southwestern as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology. She received the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Member award. Her current work is focused on how the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) senses nutrients, such as amino acids, to control cell growth and metabolism.