PNNL

Samantha Powell earned her PhD from the University of Oklahoma in the laboratory of Dr. George Richter-Addo, where her work involved the use of x-ray crystallography to study heme proteins and Clostridium difficile nitroreductases to discern their interactions with small molecules. From 2019 to 2020, she was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Air Force Research Laboratory in San Antonio, Texas, where she studied the mechanisms of photobiomodulation, a phenomenon occurring in the mitochondria as part of the electron transport chain processes. Powell joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 2020 as a postdoctoral researcher in the Biostructure and Function team and has since become a staff member. At PNNL, she serves as a key member across multiple projects investigating both structure and function, using cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) (single particle and microcrystal electron diffraction [MicroED]), cell-free expression, native mass spectrometry, and biochemical assays. Additionally, she leads the nanobody pipeline, generating target specific nanobodies used for both structural and functional studies. 

• Structural biology
• Cryo-EM
• MicroED
• X-ray Crystallography
• Biochemistry
• Native mass spectrometry
• Protein Expression
• Nanobody

• Protein biochemistry including protein expression and purification, as well as functional assays.
• Structural biology for determining 3-D structures of proteins and small molecules utilizing x-ray crystallography and/or cryoEM.
• Generating target-specific nanobodies for protein structural/functional characterization, and to control function and/or phenotype.

• PhD in biochemistry, University of Oklahoma
• BS in chemistry, Colorado School of Mines

• Member, American Women in Science (AWIS), 2024–present
• Meeting committee, member, American Crystallographic Association (ACA), 2021–present
• Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2017–present
• Member, American Chemical Society (ACS), 2012–present

• Best postdoctoral oral presentation, Postgraduate Organization Research Symposium, PNNL, 2021

Google Scholar Link

2024

• Diaz Ludovico I., S.M. Powell, G.M. Many, L.M. Bramer, S. Sarkar, K.G. Stratton, and T. Liu, et al. 2024. "A fast and sensitive size-exclusion chromatography method for plasma extracellular vesicle proteomic analysis." Proteomics 24, no. 16:2400025. PNNL-SA-194254. doi:10.1002/pmic.202400025.
• Powell S.M., D. Herrera, I.V. El Khoury, C.M. Perdue, N.C. Sadler, J.R. Cort, and G.O. Robinson, et al. 2024. Accelerating the identification of novel secondary metabolites in bioenergy plant root exudates using MicroED. PNNL-36689. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Accelerating the identification of novel secondary metabolites in bioenergy plant root exudates using MicroED.
• Powell S.M., L.G. Jarlsberg, E. Zionce, L.N. Anderson, M.A. Gritsenko, P. Nahid, and J.M. Jacobs. 2024. "Longitudinal analysis of host protein serum signatures of treatment and recovery in pulmonary tuberculosis." PLoS One 19, no. 2:Art. No. e0294603. PNNL-SA-184858. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0294603.

2023

• Deng S., J. Kim, K.R. Pomraning, Y. Gao, J.E. Evans, B.A. Hofstad, and Z. Dai, et al. 2023. "Identification of a specific exporter that enables high production of aconitic acid in Aspergillus pseudoterreus." Metabolic Engineering 80. PNNL-SA-181297. doi:10.1016/j.ymben.2023.09.011.
• Vallejo M.C., S. Sarkar, E.C. Elliott, H.R. Henry, S.M. Powell, I. Diaz Ludovico, and Y. You, et al. 2023. "A proteomic meta-analysis refinement of plasma extracellular vesicles." Scientific Data 10. PNNL-SA-178237. doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02748-1.

2022

• Parvate A.D., S.M. Powell, J.T. Brookreson, T.H. Moser, I.V. Novikova, M. Zhou, and J.E. Evans. 2022. "Cryo-EM structure of the diapause chaperone Artemin." Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences 9. PNNL-SA-170053. doi:10.3389/fmolb.2022.998562.
• Powell S.M., M. Zhou, J.E. Evans, G.E. Johnson, and L. Pasa-Tolic. 2022. Developing High-Flux Ion Soft Landing with Mass-Selection for Improved Cryo-Electron Microscopy. PNNL-33371. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Developing High-Flux Ion Soft Landing with Mass-Selection for Improved Cryo-Electron Microscopy.

2021

• Lalonde J., G.D. Noojin, N.J. Pope, S.M. Powell, V.V. Yakovlev, and M.L. Denton. 2021. "Continuous assessment of metabolic activity of mitochondria using resonance Raman microspectroscopy." Journal of Biophotonics 14, no. 4:e202000384. PNNL-SA-156542. doi:10.1002/jbio.202000384.
• O'Connor S.P., S.M. Powell, J.M. Rickman, N.J. Pope, G.D. Noojin, M.O. Scully, and M.F. Denton, et al. 2021. "Mammalian complex III heme dynamics studied with pump-probe spectroscopy and red light illuminations." Biomedical Optics Express 12, no. 11:7082-7091. PNNL-SA-166055. doi:10.1364/BOE.441118.
• O'Connor S.P., S.M. Powell, J.M. Rickman, N.J. Pope, G.D. Noojin, M.O. Scully, and M.F. Denton, et al. 2021. "Transient absorption spectroscopy to explore cellular pathways to photobiomodulation." Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology, B: Biology 222. PNNL-SA-161818. doi:10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2021.112271.

2020

• Pope N.J., S.M. Powell, J.C. Wigle, and M.L. Denton. 2020. "Wavelength- and Irradiance-Dependent Changes in Intracellular Nitric Oxide Level." Journal of Biomedical Optics 25, no. 8:085001. PNNL-SA-154049. doi:10.1117/1.JBO.25.8.085001.
• Powell S.M., L.M. Thomas, and G.B. Richter-Addo. 2020. "The Nitrosoamphetamine Metabolite is Accommodated in the Active Site of Human Hemoglobin: Spectroscopy and Crystal Structure." Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 213. PNNL-SA-155174. doi:10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2020.111262.