Biochemical Journal Young Investigator Award

Mandi Murph

After working in a lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during her tenure in college at Emory University in Atlanta, scientific research became the career pursuit of Dr Mandi Murph, PhD and recipient of the Biochemical Journal Award at the FASEB "Lysolipids in Health and Disease" Conference held in Tucson, Arizona.

Murph’s first research exposure was microbiology testing for antibiotic resistance in human samples sent to the CDC. Her mentor there encouraged Murph to attend graduate school for an advanced science degree and after college graduation she went on to the Georgia Institute of Technology to earn a PhD in molecular biology.

While studying in graduate school, Murph became interested in lysophospholipid research and published several papers on G protein-coupled receptor trafficking. Wanting additional postdoctoral training in lysophospholipid research, Murph then moved to Houston to work under the direction of Dr Gordon Mills, MD, PhD at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Murph has published several papers, chapters and reviews with Mills and continues to examine what role lysophospholipids play in human cancer. The Biochemical Journal awarded Murph for her work, “LPA transcriptomic signature corresponds with improved prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer”.