Erin E. Carlson
Erin E. Carlson received her B.A. (Summa Cum Laude) at St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN) in 2000. She went on to graduate studies funded by the NIH Predoctoral Biotechnology Training Program at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2005 under the direction of Professor Laura L. Kiessling. Her graduate career focused on the design and synthesis of mechanistic probes and inhibitors for carbohydrate-binding proteins, concentrating on the study of UDP-galactopyranose mutase (UGM), an enzyme involved in cell wall biosynthesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Subsequently, Dr. Carlson was awarded an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship for studies at The Scripps Research Institute with Professor Benjamin F. Cravatt. Carlson and Cravatt developed a global metabolite profiling strategy that utilizes chemoselective probes to enable enrichment and profiling of metabolites from complex biological systems. This technology, referred to as Metabolite Enrichment by Tagging and Proteolytic Release (METPR), facilitates the rigorous characterization of biochemical pathways through their most sensitive reporter, endogenous small molecules. In 2007, Dr. Carlson received an NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) and joined the faculty at IU in the summer of 2008. In 2010, she was named a Pew Biomedical Scholar. Dr. Carlson was recently notified that she received the 2011 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award.
Education
- B.A. Chemistry, St. Olaf College, 2000
- Ph. D., Organic Chemistry, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2005
- Postdoctoral Fellow, The Scripps Research Institute, 2006-2008
Honors & Awards
- NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2, 2011 - present)
- Pew Biomedical Scholar (2010-present)
- NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00, 2007 - 2011)
- American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow (2006 - 2007)
- Ralph F. Hirshmann - Daniel H. Rich Graduate Award in Bio-organic Chemistry (2005)
- NIH Predoctoral Fellow, Biotechnology Training Program (2001 - 2004)
- American Institute of Chemists Foundation: Outstanding Senior Student (2000)
- Phi Lambda Upsilon (Honorary Chemical Society, 2000)
- Phi Beta Kappa (Academic Honor Society, 2000)
