Hometown: Springfield, Missouri
Faculty mentor: Ryan Boudreau, PhD, associate professor of internal medicine – cardiovascular medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Carver College of Medicine
Degree program and anticipated graduation date: PhD in molecular medicine, Spring 2025

Nathan Witmer started working in the Boudreau Lab as an undergraduate student. There, his research aims to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying heart disease, which remains the world’s leading cause of death despite advanced treatments and disease prevention. The research team has discovered several microproteins and Witmer is working to determine their functions, their relevance to heart disease, and if they are targetable for heart disease treatments. Witmer’s research builds on current knowledge about how heart cells function and how they become dysfunctional during disease states and could potentially lead to additional studies aimed at developing new gene therapies for these microproteins.

Witmer hopes to join the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry, laying the foundation to develop effective gene therapies.

Banner location: Downtown—