2016 Outstanding Scientific Achievement by a Young Investigator
Dr. DeMarco is a clinical assistant professor in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of British Columbia, a clinical chemist at St. Paul’s Hospital, and an investigator with the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation in Vancouver, Canada. She received her PhD from the University of Washington, where she developed atomic resolution models of prion protein misfolding and formation of oligomers in transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, and contributed to the identification of a common mechanism for amyloid formation. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Georgia she developed a hybrid computational/experimental/theoretical method for quantifying the structural properties of glycolipids in lipid membranes.
As a clinical chemistry fellow at the Washington University School of Medicine she applied her experience toward the development of protein-based assays for the rapid identification of uropathogens and diagnostics for Alzheimer’s disease. Her research group at the University of British Columbia specializes in new approaches for quantitation of protein biomarkers with an emphasis on diagnostics for neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. DeMarco regularly participates in the events of clinical and scientific organizations, including those of the Human Proteome Organization, the Biophysical Society, and the Society for Young Clinical Laboratorians.