Jackie McCourt has had a love of proteins since her undergraduate days. Now, she studies the biophysical properties of the protein dystrophin and its role in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Specifically, she's interested in the consequences of dystrophin mutations on the stability of this protein, and the implications on the development of gene therapies for DMD.

Jackie is currently a second-year grad student at the University of Minnesota in the department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics. She received a BS in 2010 from Azusa Pacific University in southern California where she studied Biochemistry. Before pursuing her graduate career at the U, she worked at a small DNA sequencing company in Los Angeles where she gained invaluable experience and perspective in the field of personalized medicine.

Jackie is driven to develop both her research and teaching skills here at the U and pursue a career as a professor in order to inspire and train young scientists, as her professors have inspired her.