Jennifer K. Hood-DeGrenier

Jennifer Hood-DeGrenier joined the Wellesley faculty as an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences in July 2002. She is a cell biologist with expertise in the genetics and biochemistry of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as well as fluorescence and electron microscopy. Her research concerns the regulation of cell division, with particular interest in the specific roles of yeast cyclins and the mechanisms that generate that specificity, including the role of subcellular protein targeting. Professor Hood-DeGrenier teaches courses in cellular and molecular biology at all levels of the curriculum. Her advanced course offering focuses on the myriad ways in which proteins are regulated to generate exquisite control of cellular processes.

Professor Hood-DeGrenier received a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from Harvard University in 2000 with a thesis that investigated mechanisms of protein nucleocytoplasmic transport in budding yeast.  She was a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco from 2000-2002. There she conducted research on protein folding and yeast prions. Professor Hood-DeGrenier is an alumna of Williams College, where she received a B.A. in Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1995. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1994 and Sigma Xi in 1995 and is a member of the American Society for Cell Biology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Professor Hood-DeGrenier has published research articles on cyclin localization and mechanisms of nuclear transport in Current Genetics, The Journal of Biological Chemistry and The Journal of Cell Science and has written review articles on nuclear transport and prion strains for Current Opinions in Cell Biology, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta and The Lancet. She has also devoted considerable time to the development of yeast-based undergraduate laboratory modules and has published some of this work in CBE Life Sciences Education.

Professor Hood-DeGrenier lives in Wellesley with her husband, Caleb, and their two young children, Julia and Atticus. She is a former college rower and amateur marathon runner who still enjoys running and yoga when family and work permit a little spare time.

Profile last updated: 7/08