I was captivated by the complexity in biological systems when I was an undergraduate at Swarthmore College. While there, I studied dragonfly wing structure with Rachel Merz and anemone behavior with Liz Vallen. After graduating, I worked in the lab of Steve DiNardo at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where I was given the opportunity to shift my focus to Drosophila developmental genetics. There, my research centered on how planar polarity is established in a growing fly. In the Extavour Lab, I hope to explore early insect development, with the goal of uncovering a little bit more about how different groups have evolved.

I am a graduate student in the OEB program.

Publications

Resilin in dragonfly and damselfly wings and its implications for wing flexibility. Donoughe, S., Crall, J.D., Merz, R.A. and Combes, S.A. Journal of Morphology (accepted for publication).

dachsous and frizzled contribute separately to planar polarity in the Drosophila ventral epidermis.  Donoughe, S. and DiNardo, S.  Development 138: 2751-9 (2011).