Lenore started racing shortly after graduating from Swarthmore College with degrees in Honors Biology and Anthropology in 2008. Within less than a year of racing, she started competing on the professional level in 2009, which included an invitation to the biggest one-day race in America, Philadelphia’s Liberty Classic. The 2009 cyclo-cross season was a successful breakout year for her on the elite level as well: winning an overall omnium and becoming the runner-up in the MABRA series. She currently races on the road for the elite team, Fruit66/Artemis, and can boast a 7th place individual standing in the USA Crits Series. The team has had a successful season including two podiums at national level races, Dilworth Criterium and Air Force Cycling Classic Crystal Cup. Her cyclo-cross goals for 2010 are to continue her successes at UCI Cyclocross races.
Aside from elite racing, Lenore is a researcher in the Riethman Laboratory at The Wistar Institute. Her research involves analyzing subtelomeric DNA, which are the regions adjacent to the telomeres. Subtelomeres had previously been regarded as genetic junkyards but have been shown to encode genes and to be one of the most variable and recombination-prone regions of the human genome. Specifically, she is studying the WASH genes, which are the most terminally located genes in the subtelomere. WASH proteins appear to play a role in cytoskeletal organization and signal transduction, and can function in the regulation of actin polymerization. Since WASH genes encode proteins that are highly conserved and widely expressed, they could have played a role in the evolution of human-specific phenotypes and their disruption are likely to have pathological consequences.
Recent Publications:
“The Prehistory of Mongolian Populations as Revealed by Studies of Osteological, Dental and Genetic Variation”, with Dr. Theodore Schurr in Mapping Mongolia: Situating Mongolia in the World from Geologic Time to the Present (2010, in Press)
http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14817.html
“AutoDecon: A Robust Numerical Method for the Quantification of Pulsatile Events” (2009)- with Michael L. Johnson et al. in Methods in Enzymology 454: 367-404
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2662594/
“AutoDecon, a Deconvolution Algorithm for Identification and Characterization of Luteinizing Hormone Secretory Bursts: Description and Validation Using Synthetic Data” (2008)- with Michael L. Johnson et al. in Analytical Biochemistry 381(1):8-17
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2557553/
“Homosexuality: genetic or not?”-The Phoenix 12/06
http://www.swarthmorephoenix.com/2006/12/07/opinions/homosexuality-genetic-or-not
“Neandertal DNA gives new insight to genetics”-The Phoenix 11/06
http://www.swarthmorephoenix.com/2006/11/02/opinions/neandertal-dna-gives-new-insight-to-genetics
“Trans fatty foods not fit to consume”-The Phoenix 11/06
http://www.swarthmorephoenix.com/2006/11/16/opinions/trans-fatty-foods-not-fit-to-consume
“Child fossil discovery sparks debate, bridges gaps”-The Phoenix 09/06
http://www.swarthmorephoenix.com/2006/09/28/opinions/child-fossil-discovery-sparks-debate-bridges-gaps
“Vocal pitch a telltale sign for both men and dogs” -The Phoenix 09/06
http://www.swarthmorephoenix.com/2006/09/14/opinions/vocal-pitch-a-telltale-sign-for-both-men-and-dogs
