Short Scientific Biography

Dr. Jessica A. Willi ('Jaw', she/her) is currently an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Lethbridge, where she started her lab in 2024.

Jaw completed her B. Sc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2014 at University of Bern in Switzerland, followed by a M. Sc in Molecular Life Sciences at the same institution, focusing on RNA structure-function and atomic mutagenesis. She completed her PhD in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology with specialization in RNA Biology in 2019 under Prof. Norbert Polacek at University of Bern, investigating how oxidation affects ribosomal RNA and translation. During her PhD, she was a visiting research scholar in the lab of Prof. Patrick Limbach at the University of Cincinnati, where she developed methods for detecting and mapping RNA modifications via mass spectrometry. Jaw’s PhD thesis was awarded the faculty prize for best thesis of 2019, and the RNA Society’s Award for Excellence in RNA Research. During her postdoc she joined the lab of Prof. Michael Jewett at Northwestern University in Chicago, USA (now at Stanford Bioengineering), where Jaw investigated the minimization and engineering of ribosomes for applications in cell-free protein synthesis and biotechnology. She is a member of the Center for Synthetic Biology, and recipient of multiple Swiss National Science Foundation grants.