Skylar Batty

Skylar Batty is a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences Program at UCSD, mentored by Dr. Arshad Desai. Her graduate work aims to characterize the role of the evolutionarily conserved microtubule depolymerizing protein MCAK in mitosis, using the C. elegans one cell embryo as a model system. More specifically, the goal of her work is to identify the precise contributions that MCAK makes at distinct subcellular locations to ensure accurate genome inheritance. Overall, Skylar is interested in connecting her research at the subcellular/cellular scale to broader biological topics, particularly those related to the origin of our species. She is especially interested in the role of post-menopausal females in human evolution, how cancer-susceptibility arises during human evolution, and how breast milk has served as a form of evolutionary dialogue between mother and infant to drive cognitive and immune development.