Alison E. Patteson

Alison Patteson is a biophysicist at Syracuse University. She is the winner of multiple awards including the 2024 Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award and the Dissertation Award in Statistical and Non-linear Physics from the American Physical Society, as well as the National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

Career Alison Patteson was interested in mathematics and its applications in undergraduate school. She worked on multiple research projects as an undergraduate including a summer research program at the University of Chicago. Patteson was awarded bachelors degrees in mathematics and physics from Kutztown University in 2011.

In January 2018 Patteson began work as an assistant professor in the physics department at Syracuse University.

Patteson studies the formation of biofilms, cell migration, the way cells respond to their environment, and other aspects of cellular biomechanics. Her research also includes a focus on the role of the protein vimentin, which forms filaments to protect against damage to the DNA in the cell nucleus after a wound. intermediate filaments, the network of proteins protects the nucleus against deformation, rupture and DNA damage during migration, often present in processes like wound healing. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Patteson in collaboration with Jennifer Schwarz began researching how antibodies against vimentin could be used to block the uptake of SARS-CoV-2 in cells.

Honors and awards

2024 Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award, American Physical Society 2023 Cottrell Scholar, Research Corporation 2018 Dissertation Award in Statistical and Nonlinear Physics, American Physical Society 2012 Graduate Research Fellow, National Science Foundation