Working to end proliferation of biological weapons
Danielle Lohman’s scientific career was nurtured at the lab bench at the Morgridge Institute for Research before morphing into a diplomatic role working to prevent the spread of biological weapons.
“Science, communication, and teaching are something you learn as part of your job as a researcher,” says Lohman, a foreign affairs officer at the U.S. Department of State. “Today, I’m doing that all the time with international diplomats, scientists, and U.S. government officials.”
A native of small-town North Carolina, Lohman earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011 before coming to the University of Wisconsin–Madison to earn her doctorate.
In Madison, she worked — first as a graduate assistant and then as a postdoctoral fellow — with researcher Dave Pagliarini, using structural, biochemical and computational approaches to study the protein COQ9 and the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in disease.
“Morgridge is a place where the scientists feel valued. It was very clear that the mission is to do good research to make good discoveries.”
Danielle Lohman
A 3D model of the protein still sits on her desk at the State Department’s headquarters in the Foggy Bottom section of Washington, D.C.
“I like the idea of having a social contract between the scientist and the rest of society, and that was so apparent at Morgridge,” Lohman says. “It made me understand that discoveries are absolutely necessary, but they’re not sufficient. If you want to apply the discoveries, and turn them into inventions, it requires a lot more than intellectual discovery.”
She adds: “Morgridge is a place where the scientists feel valued. It was very clear that the mission is to do good research to make good discoveries.”
In Lohman’s second year of graduate school, she attended a career fair and met a scientist who worked at the State Department promoting chemical security. That meeting helped shift Lohman’s career path from basic science to science policy.
While Lohman was at Morgridge, she attended a workshop on congressional science and engineering advocacy. And, she interned for the nonprofit Health Security Partners, helping other nations to promote biosecurity and biosafety.
In 2019, she landed a prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science fellowship working in the Office of Biological Policy in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.
And she stayed with the bureau in a full-time role. One of her primary duties is helping to oversee a treaty signed by more than 180 nations that bans biological weapons, working with international diplomats to keep the treaty’s purpose front and center globally.
“There’s a quote in the preamble that’s so perfect. It says basically that these weapons are repugnant to the conscience of mankind,” Lohman says. “We want to keep the treaty alive and live within its text. Otherwise, it’s just a piece of paper someone signed 50 years ago.”
Early in her State Department career, Lohman also recognized the commonalities between fine-tuning cellular systems in the lab and influencing the complex workings of government.
“In the lab, if you make a small change to their genetics, they behave differently in significant ways. It transforms things,” she said. “I started to think of government as an organism. That helped me make the pivot a little easier, because you’re using the same critical thinking as in the lab. Today, I don’t find pivoting as scary as it used to be.”
Rising Sparks: Early Career Stars
Rising Sparks is a monthly profile series exploring the personal inspirations and professional goals of early-career scientists at the Morgridge Institute.
Rising Sparks: Danielle Lohman, metabolism alum
Morgridge alum lands at the U.S. Department of State, shaping the intersection of science policy and foreign affairs.
Rising Sparks: Nick Arp, metabolism
Nick Arp is building a toolbox of knowledge in the research lab and in the medical clinic, searching for answers to scientific questions that can improve patient care.
Rising Sparks: Raison Dsouza, structural biology
Raison Dsouza is developing new computational methods to analyze cryo-electron microscopy images, trying to find specific particles in “noisy,” corrupted data.
Rising Sparks: Lexi Menendez, regenerative biology
Lexi Menendez credits Morgridge and the PREP program for jump-starting her research career and graduate school future.
Rising Sparks: Kasia Wiech, biomedical imaging
Kasia Wiech, a graduate student in biomedical engineering, is on a mission to bring science out of the lab and into public spaces to highlight the impact of science in our everyday lives.
Rising Sparks: Roma Broadberry, biomedical imaging
Roma Broadberry, a biophysics graduate researcher in the Tim Grant Lab, is helping to illuminate the intricacy of viral replication using cryo-EM.
Rising Sparks: Andrés Tibabuzo, regenerative biology
From 'Jurassic Park' to snake venom to parasitic flatworms, Andrés Tibabuzo is motivated by the science that fascinates him.
Rising Sparks: Marcela Tabima, regenerative biology
Marcela Tabima has focused her fascination with human biology on two major research efforts in the Discovery Building — engineering synthetic arteries for surgery and finding new ways to treat inherited retinal diseases.
Rising Sparks: Katherine Overmyer, metabolism
Katie Overmyer collaborates with metabolism researchers to push the boundaries of mass spectrometry technology and uncover answers to important biological questions.
Rising Sparks: Joe Li, biomedical imaging
"You can always learn more": An unquenchable thirst for discovery guides Joe Li’s pursuit of cutting-edge light-sheet microscopy.
Rising Sparks: Odette Herrand, regenerative biology
Odette Herrand is drawn to the inherent creativity involved in answering complex scientific questions, which they use to study fertility in the fruit fly.
Rising Sparks: Peter Ducos, structural biology
Peter Ducos leans on his military training to solve complex problems and collaborate with other scientists by exploring molecular structures in exquisite detail.
Rising Sparks: Kim Huggler, metabolism
Kim Huggler believes science is fundamentally about creativity, and leverages an innovative cell culture media to reveal biological processes that conventional techniques cannot.
Rising Sparks: Ed Evans, biomedical imaging
Ed Evans sees every challenge as an opportunity to grow, and uses his passion for problem-solving to develop new imaging tools that will help other scientists.