Pamela Kay Hanson

Background

Pamela Kay Hanson is the daughter of Palmer Oliver and Marjorie Hanson. Her academic and professional background has centered on biochemistry, cell biology, molecular genetics, and undergraduate science education.

Education

Hanson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry, cum laude, from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, in May 1996. She completed doctoral training in the Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology Program within Emory University's Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences in Atlanta, receiving her Ph.D. in 2001. Her doctoral and subsequent research developed around yeast cell biology, membrane transport, phospholipid trafficking, and cellular responses to chemical stress.

Career

Hanson began her academic career as an assistant professor of biology at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2001. She became an associate professor in 2007 and a professor in 2015, remaining at Birmingham-Southern through 2019. During this period she also held visiting associate professor appointments in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Iowa in Iowa City during spring 2008, summer 2009, and May 2010. In 2019 she joined Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, as a professor of biology. Her research uses Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model for studying gene regulation and membrane physiology, including phospholipid transport, transporter expression, lipid biosynthesis, anticancer ruthenium complexes, DNA damage, stress responses, and cell-cycle regulation. Her educational work has included interdisciplinary and research-based laboratory programs, molecular modeling, cancer biology, genetics, cell biology, genetic engineering, biotechnology, and course-based undergraduate research.

Achievements

• Established a research program using Saccharomyces cerevisiae to investigate membrane physiology, phospholipid trafficking, transporter regulation, drug resistance, DNA damage, and cellular responses to anticancer ruthenium complexes.

• Served as principal investigator, co-principal investigator, or major participant on externally funded projects supporting interdisciplinary undergraduate research, molecular modeling, course-based research experiences, cancer biology education, and biology laboratory reform.

• Led interdisciplinary undergraduate science education initiatives connecting biology and chemistry courses through authentic research experiences and collaborative laboratory projects.

• Served as chair of the Biology Department at Birmingham-Southern College from spring 2012 through summer 2014.

Works

• book chapter

  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae: A unicellular model genetic organism of enduring importance

    (Authored chapter describing the enduring value of Sacchar...)

    2018

• journal article

  • Collaboration-focused workshop for interdisciplinary, inter-institutional teams of college science faculty

    (Co-authored account of a faculty-development workshop des...)

    2015
  • Proteomic analysis of the S. cerevisiae response to the anticancer ruthenium complex KP1019

    (Co-authored proteomic analysis of cellular responses to K...)

    2020
  • NBD-labeled phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine are internalized by transbilayer transport across the yeast plasma membrane

    (Co-authored research on energy-dependent transbilayer tra...)

    2001

  • The anticancer ruthenium complex KP1019 induces DNA damage, leading to cell cycle delay and cell death in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

    (Co-authored research using budding yeast to investigate D...)

    2013

  • Energy-dependent flip of fluorescence-labeled phospholipids is regulated by nutrient starvation and transcription factors, PDR1 and PDR3

    (Co-authored study of phospholipid translocation in yeast ...)

    2001

  • DNA damage response checkpoint activation drives KP1019 dependent pre-anaphase cell cycle delay in S. cerevisiae

    (Co-authored study of checkpoint activation and pre-anapha...)

    2015
  • NBD-labeled phosphatidylcholine enters the yeast vacuole via the pre-vacuolar compartment

    (Study of fluorescent phosphatidylcholine trafficking thro...)

    2002
  • Regulation of yeast nutrient permease endocytosis by ATP-binding cassette transporters and a seven-transmembrane protein, RSB1

    (Co-authored study of transporter endocytosis and regulati...)

    2010

  • A yeast model system for functional analysis of the Niemann-Pick type C protein 1 homolog, Ncr1p

    (Co-authored development of a yeast model for functional a...)

    2005

  • Lem3p is essential for the uptake and potency of alkylphosphocholine drugs, edelfosine and miltefosine

    (Research on the role of the yeast Lem3p protein in uptake...)

    2003

Membership

Hanson has been a member of the Genetics Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Cell Biology, and the Council on Undergraduate Research. She joined the Council on Undergraduate Research in 2004, served as an elected councilor in its Biology Division from 2009 to 2015, and chaired the Biology Division Post-Doctoral Working Group from 2011 to 2012. She has also organized and co-organized education workshops associated with the Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting and participated in professional initiatives concerning undergraduate research and science education.

• Professional member.

  Genetics Society of America

• Professional member; participated in AAAS science and technology policy fellowship affinity groups.

  American Association for the Advancement of Science

• Professional member.

  American Society for Cell Biology

• Member from 2004; elected councilor of the Biology Division from 2009 to 2015 and chair of the Biology Division Post-Doctoral Working Group from 2011 to 2012.

  Council on Undergraduate Research

  2004 - present

Connections

Hanson is the daughter of Palmer Oliver and Marjorie Hanson. Her professional collaborations have included research and educational work with colleagues at Emory University, the University of Iowa, Birmingham-Southern College, Furman University, Rhodes College, and other institutions.

Father:

Palmer Oliver

Father of Pamela Kay Hanson.

Mother:

Marjorie Hanson

Mother of Pamela Kay Hanson.

References

• Pamela K. Hanson curriculum vitae Documents Hanson's education, academic appointments, research interests, grants, awards, memberships, service, and publications.
  2019
• Birmingham-Southern College Catalog Documents Hanson's B.S. degree from Rhodes College, Ph.D. from Emory University, and appointment as an associate professor of biology at Birmingham-Southern College.