Dr. Kramer joined the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Utah in January, 2017. Dr. Kramer obtained an Honors B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Utah, where she performed undergraduate research in the lab of Prof. C. Dale Poulter. She then worked in industry for Echelon Biosciences Inc. synthesizing phosphoinositide and isoprenoid compounds and related assay products. Dr. Kramer began graduate studies in the lab of Prof. Tim Deming in UCLA's Chemistry Department and obtained her Ph.D. in 2012. Her studies were partially funded by an NSF training grant. In 2013, Dr. Kramer joined the lab of Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi at UC Berkeley and Stanford as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow and a UC Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow.

Dr. Kramer's research efforts have been recognized with numerous awards including an NSF CAREER award, the international Dream Chemistry Award [ Link ], the Henkel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Chemistry [ Link ], Norma Stoddart Prize, Saul and Sylvia Winstein Dissertation Award, Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Award, and even presented an experiment for former Utah Governor and US presidential candidate John M. Huntsman.

Snot Lab

The Kramer lab has developed a fun and interactive learning experience for students, Snot Lab. The experiment introduces students to 2 major building blocks of life, proteins and sugars. Proteins and sugars combine to form mucus, which is essentially for life in creatures from jellyfish to humans. Humans have 200-fold more mucus covered surfaces than skin! Students will prepare synthetic mucus of different viscosities, or "stickiness" and measure how this affects travel distances in sneeze models. Students will learn fundamental concepts in materials science and biology while having fun!

This experiment can be adapted for students in 3rd grade through 12th grade.

Contact Dr. Kramer for more information or booking.