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Kaitlyn Stepler earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN under the mentorship of Dr. Renã A. S. Robinson. Her dissertation applied mass spectrometry-based proteomics—the study of all the proteins [proteome] in a cell, tissue, or organism—to investigate racial disparities in Alzheimer’s disease. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland, College Park in May 2023, where she applied proteomics to the opposite end of the lifespan, studying embryonic development in frog and chick research models. Dr. Stepler earned her undergraduate degree in Exercise Science and Chemistry at nearby McDaniel College, in Westminster, MD.
Dr. Stepler joined the Mount in Fall 2023. Her research lab applies proteomics to understand various processes in health and disease. In the classroom, Dr. Stepler is also working to increase the exposure of undergraduate students to important analytical technologies such as mass spectrometry and proteomics.
Proteins carry out many biological processes that are essential to proper functioning of the body and may malfunction during disease states. Proteomics allows the study of these proteins on small and large scales, measuring up to thousands of proteins using high-resolution technologies such as liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS). Dr. Stepler’s research group seeks to apply proteomics to investigate various biological and/or analytical questions by performing wet-lab experiments and collecting new proteomics data, as well as analyzing existing rich proteomics datasets. Dr. Stepler’s group is also interested in developing new bioanalytical methods and new educational laboratory experiments for courses such as Analytical Chemistry. If you are interested in talking to Dr. Stepler about joining her research lab, please send her an email at k.e.stepler@msmary.edu!
Stepler, K. E.; Hannah, S. C.; Taneyhill, L. A.; Nemes, P. Deep proteome of the developing chick midbrain, J. Proteome Res. 2023, 22(10), 3264–3274. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jproteome.3c00291
Kapp, K. L.; Robinson, R. A. S.; Verberne-Sutton, S. D.; Stepler, K. E.* Incorporation of a virtual proteomics module into the undergraduate analytical curriculum, J. Chem. Ed. 2023, 100(8), 3124–3131. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00067
Pade, L. R.; Stepler, K. E.; Portero, E. P.; DeLaney, K.; Nemes, P. Biological mass spectrometry enables spatiotemporal ‘omics: From tissues to cells to organelles, Mass Spectrom. Rev. 2022, e21824. https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mas.21824
Desaire, H.; Stepler, K. E.; Robinson, R. A. S. Exposing the brain proteomic signatures of Alzheimer’s disease in diverse racial groups: Leveraging multiple datasets and machine learning. J. Proteome Res. 2022, 21(4), 1095–1104. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jproteome.1c00966
Stepler, K. E.; Reed, C. B.; Avery, T. M.; Davis, J. S.; Robinson, R. A. S. ABCA7, a genetic risk factor associated with Alzheimer's disease risk in African Americans. J. Alzheimers Dis. 2022, 86(1), 5–19. https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad215306
Stepler, K. E.; Mahoney, E. R.; Kofler, J.; Hohman, T. J.; Lopez, O. L.; Robinson, R. A. S. Inclusion of African American/Black adults in a pilot brain proteomics study of Alzheimer’s disease, Neurobiol. Dis. 2020, 146, DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2020.105129. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969996120304046?via%3Dihub