Dr Lewellyn received her B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina. She earned her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego studying the process of cell division in the lab of Dr Karen Oegema. Dr Lewellyn then went on to do post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago with Dr Sally Horne-Badovinac. Dr Lewellyn's research at Butler is focused on the cellular and developmental mechanisms that control the formation of the fruit fly egg. The fruit fly egg is generated from a multicellular structure called an egg chamber. The egg chamber is composed of a cluster of 16 germ cells (15 supporting nurse cells and 1 oocyte) that is surrounded by a layer of somatic cells called follicle cells. The germ cell cluster is formed through four rounds of mitosis, each of which is followed by incomplete cytokinesis. Instead of completely separating the two daughter cells, a connection is maintained through an intercellular bridge, which is called a ring canal. During the course of oogenesis, the ring canals expand ~20-fold; the stability and expansion of the ring canals is necessary to accommodate the transfer of mRNA, protein, and even organelles from the nurse cells to the developing oocyte.

Cell division, Oogenesis, Cytoplasm