Jennifer D Petersen

Jennifer D. Petersen obtained her PhD in neuroscience and currently works at NIH, in the Eunice Kennedy-Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) as a research scientist with Joshua Zimmerberg. Jennifer specializes in using electron microscopy to study cellular phenomena, and recently has become interested in the biogenesis of extracellular vesicles. After obtaining her undergraduate degree at Penn State, she worked with Thomas Reese at NINDS where she learned the technique of freeze fracture, rotary shadow electron microscopy and studied the fine structure of the excitatory postsynaptic density, which anchors neurotransmitter receptors and signaling molecules. She then trained with Gary Banker at Oregon Health and Science University during her PhD, using live-cell fluorescence microscopy to study the selective kinesin-based transport of axonal and dendritic membrane proteins during the development of neuronal polarity. For her postdoctoral work, she traveled to Bordeaux, France, to the laboratory of Daniel Choquet at the University of Bordeaux, where she used light and electron microscopy to study the nanoscale localization of synaptic AMPA-type glutamate receptors and their dynamic trafficking during synaptic plasticity. In 2017, she joined NICHD, where she applies her experience and develops new techniques to study dynamic membrane events that occur during events such as EV biogenesis, viral infection, and malaria invasion of red blood cells.