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A veteran health researcher and educator, Dr. Sell began her career in genetics at UC Berkeley, followed by a two-year Muscular Dystrophy fellowship at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France. She earned her PhD at the University of Utah Medical Center, where she was a member of one of the early cohorts participating in an innovative, interdisciplinary biomedical sciences training program.  Dr. Sell rose through the ranks at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, ending as Associate Dean of its Graduate School. As a faculty member, she carried out federally-funded research in the areas of diabetes, obesity, and cancer. In the Graduate School, she directed the DOE McNair Scholars and NIH Bridges to the Baccalaureate programs. In 2006, she joined UNC Charlotte’s Graduate School as an Associate Dean, with an initial academic appointment in Biology. She is currently a professor in the newly-formed Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics. Accomplishments in the Graduate School included increasing external funding for graduate students (NSF GRFP, PEO, DOE GAANN), overseeing development of a webtool for hiring a graduate assistant (eGA), leading a graduation/degree progression task force (that resulted in the purchase of the widely-used webtool (DegreeWorks)), and launching a very successful undergraduate summer research program (Charlotte Research Scholars program). After accepting a position as the Interim Chair of Public Health Sciences, Dr. Sell joined the College of Health and Human Services last year. She now serves as the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies.

 

Education

  • Postdoctoral Fellow – NIH/NIDDK, Phoenix Indian Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona, 1991-1995.
  • Postdoctoral Fellow – Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California, 1987-1991.
    • Ph.D. – University of Utah Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. Cellular, Viral and Molecular Biology, 1987.
  • Non-degree
    • Non-degree – U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, California. Alumni Postbac Program, 1980-1981.
    • Pasteur Institute, Paris, France. Developmental Biology, 1978-1980.
  • A.B. – U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, California. Genetics, 1978.

 

Teaching – UNC Charlotte

 

  • Environmental Health, lecture, 2016.
  • Responsible Conduct of Research, lecture, 2013 – present.
  • Introduction to Bioinformatics and Genomics, lecture, 2011-2013.
  • Graduate Educational Opportunities: An Introduction to Post-Baccalaureate Education, 2010 – 2014.
  • Interdisciplinary Biology PhD Colloquium, 2007.

 

Research Interests/Areas of Expertise

 

  • Biomarker development for precision health.
  • Genomics and environmental determinants of disease susceptibility and progression.
  • Development of improved informatics tools for genomic/environmental study applications.
  • Genetic syndromes of obesity.

 

Awards and Honors

 

  • Scientific Advisory Board, The Foundation for Prader-Willi Research, 2003 – present (founding member).
  • UNC Charlotte Outstanding Mentor Recognition, 2011.
  • DAAD German Academic Exchange Service Fellowship Program in the Natural Sciences, 2010.
  • National Postdoctoral Association Leadership Award, 2007.
  • Editorial Board Member, Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics, 2001-2010.
  • NATO Molecular Biology NIH Study Section, Special Emphasis Panel, 2000.
  • NSF Program Evaluation in Biochemical Genetics, 1992.
  • Dean’s Fellowship, Stanford University Medical Center, 1987-1990.
  • NIH Pre-doctoral Genetics Training Fellow, 1984-1987.
  • University of Utah Graduate Research Fellowship, 1983-1984.
  • Summer Program, Spetsai, Greece, 1979.

 

 

Community Involvement

 

  • HopeWay Foundation, 2015-present.
  • Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce Junior Leadership Program (volunteer), 2014-2015.
  • Hope House Volunteer, Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce, 2014.
  • Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program, 2013-2014.
  • Pat’s Place Child Advocacy Center Fundraiser, 2012.
  • ‘Let Me Play’ Luncheon, UNC Charlotte Athletic Foundation, 2011-present.
  • June Chavis Davenport Scholarship Committee, Charlotte, NC, 2009-11.
  • Davidson College, Building Leadership Skills for Social Change, Davidson, NC, 2007-2008.

 

 

Selected Publications

 

  • Nishimura, W., Rowan, S., Salameh, T., Maas, R., Bonner-Weir, S.,Sell, S.M.,Sharma, A. Preferential reduction of beta cells derived from Pax6-MafB-pathway in MafB deficient mice. Developmental Biology, 314:443-456 (2008).
  • Ptacek, T., Song, C-Y., Walker, C.L., Sell, S.M. Physical Mapping of Distinct 7q22 Deletions in Uterine Leiomyoma, and Analysis of a Recently Annotated 7q22 Candidate Gene. Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics,174:116-20 (2007).
  • Bittel, D.C, Kibiryeva, N., Sell, S.M., Strong, T.V., Butler, G. Whole Genome Microarray Analysis of Gene Expression in Prader-Willi Syndrome, Am J Medical Genetics, 2007 Jan 18 [Epub ahead of print]
  • Ptacek, T. and Sell, S.M. A Tiered Approach to Comparative Genomics. Briefings in Functional Genomics & Proteomics 4:178-185 (2005).
  • Chen, D., Song, S., Orthner, H.F., and Sell, S.M. Personalized Online Information Search and Visualization. BMC: Medical Informatics and Decision Making 5:6-15 (2005).
  • Sell, S.M. Isolated Polynucleotide Associated with Type II Diabetes Mellitus and Methods of Use Thereof. U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 10/012,282.  (Issued 2004).
  • Sell, S.M., Patel, S., Stracner, D., Meloni, A. Allelic Loss Analysis by Capillary Electrophoresis: an Accurate, Automated Method for Detection of Deletions in Solid Tumors. Genetic Testing 5:267-268 (2001).
  • Yoder, B. andSell, S.M.  Jets: a Modification to Speed Flexible Oligonucleotide Array Construction. The Pharmacogenomics Journal 1:163-165 (2001).
  • Pratley, R.E., Ren, K., Milner, M.R., Sell, S.M.Insulin Increases Leptin mRNA Expression in Abdominal Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue in Humans. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism 70:19-26 (2000).
  • Sell, S.M.and Lugemwa, P.R., Development of a Highly Accurate, Rapid PCR-RFLP Genotyping Assay for the Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase Gene. Genetic Testing [invited] 3:287-289 (1999).
  • Weinsier, R.L., Hunter, G.R., Heini, A.F., Goran, M.I., Sell, S.M.The Etiology of Obesity: Relative Contribution of Metabolic Factors, Diet, and Physical Activity. Am. J. Med. 105:145-150 (1998).
  • Sell, S.M., Ren, K., Automated Capillary Electrophoresis in the Genotyping of Apolipoprotein E. Genomics 46: 163-164 (1997).
  • Reese, D., LeDuc, R., Sell, S.M.Evidence for Hormone-Induced Differential Splicing of PTP1B in vivo, Exp. Clin. Endocrinol. Diabetes 104:124-125 (1996).
  • Sell, S.M. V(D)J Recombinase Precursors and Coding Structure of Signal Sequence Directed Rearrangement. Computers Chem. 16:125-133 (1992).
  • Whalen, R.G., Sell, S.M., Butler-Browne, G.S., Schwartz, K., Bouveret, P., and Pinset-Harstrom, I. Three Myosin Heavy-Chain Isozymes Appear Sequentially in Rat Muscle Development. Nature 292:805-809 (1981).