The Science Research Initiative (SRI) team is welcoming an exciting new addition to their roster with Sara Wong, a postdoctoral research fellow specializing in biochemistry and cell biology.

Wong originates from the city-that-never-sleeps, where she attended CUNY Queens College through the Macaulay Honors College. After an initial interest in fine arts, she discovered her passion for biology while volunteering in a research lab studying autophagy — a cellular process where cells degrade and recycle their own damaged or dysfunctional components — in the subject model C. elegans, a microscopic roundworm that has proven to be one of the most intimately understood species in biology.

From studying autophagy’s role in lipid storage to germ cell proliferation, she saw her future in science — but with an artistic taste. The research “[k]ind of felt like making art to me,” says Wong. She accentuated her education through a summertime involvement at Albert Einstein College of Medicine before moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan to pursue graduate school where she joined  Lois Weisman’s lab. There she concentrated on organelle transport in budding yeast to understand how the vacuole is moved into yeast daughter cells during budding (a form of cellular reproduction).

Her thesis work spanned multiple disciplines, with her expertise spanning genetics, microscopy, molecular biology, biochemistry and even the mentorship of undergraduate students.

After earning her doctorate, Wong adjusted her microscopes to focus her research on cells responding to lipid stress in Adam Hughes lab here at the University of Utah. Through her investigation of membrane lipid composition, she found that increased phospholipid unsaturation can trigger the formation of mitochondrial-derived compartments and disrupt large outer-membrane complexes like the TOM complex.

These structural changes are linked as a response to preserve cellular stability, mainly mitochondrial function, under stress. In a warm manner of speech, Wong describes this through a metaphor: “Cells are basically like balloons that are like pinatas for other balloons.”

Wong now looks toward leading her own SRI stream, focusing on two key questions: how do cells adapt to lipid stress and how do lipids themselves change under environmental stresses like cold, low oxygen or diet? Primarily, her stream will experiment with yeast in identifying proteins that mis-localize under high-unsaturation conditions.

Wong envisions a practical environment for her students where they will learn tangible, critical skills in the laboratory including gene manipulation, microscopy and protein analysis.

“The first thing that I would want students to do in my stream is to validate some of these findings . . .” says Wong, “and then figure out why and what that means for the cell.” She seeks to emphasize validating observations, identifying whether mis-localizations are adaptive or detrimental and measuring the effects on cellular growth and survival.

Overall, her vision for her SRI stream is a collaborative environment that fosters student curiosity and insight with valuable mentorship. Even for students who don’t pursue a career in biology, Sara Wong aims to provide a worthwhile experience for them in learning about scientific inquiry and problem solving.

“There's no wrong choice. There's just the best choice that you make.”