News
09 October 2025
2025 Lab Coat Ceremony Welcomes Graduate Students To Their Thesis Labs
An annual tradition marks the start of scientific discovery for the 2024-2025 class of Stowers Graduate School students.
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News
Meet the Faculty: SaraH Zanders, Ph.D., explains why now is an exciting time to pursue a Ph.D. in Biology
The Stowers Institute’s inherent collaborative nature, combined with access to cutting-edge technologies and mentorship from Stowers Technology Center experts, allows students to approach biological questions from multiple angles.
Stowers Associate Investigator and Vice Dean of the Graduate School SaraH Zanders, Ph.D., is emphatic about what makes the Stowers Graduate School a premier place to earn a doctoral degree. The Stowers Institute’s inherent collaborative nature, combined with access to cutting-edge technologies and mentorship from Stowers Technology Center experts, allows students to approach biological questions from multiple angles.
Zanders highlights the rapid expansion of technology and data collection as a defining feature of modern graduate research, making this an exciting time to pursue a Ph.D. in biology—particularly at the Stowers Graduate School.
“Predocs can ask and answer far more questions than I ever dreamed of being able to do when I was a graduate student,” said Zanders. “Rather than chisel away at a question using one approach, students here have a broad range of methods, along with expert training and guidance, available to them.”
One notable success story is María Angélica Bravo Núñez, Ph.D., one of Zanders’ first graduate students at the Institute. After earning her Ph.D. from the Graduate School and completing a postdoctoral fellowship, she is now a faculty member at Cornell University. Witnessing and fostering a scientist’s maturation, from the time they enter the program to their thesis defense and beyond, is extremely rewarding for Zanders.
“I really get to see their growth—from reading their applications, seeing their interviews, and watching them defend their thesis—and now get to see them again as independent faculty at scientific meetings,” said Zanders. “That is one of the most satisfying parts of my job.”
Zanders’ research focuses on sexual reproduction and the causes of infertility using yeast species. She studies “selfish genes” that “cheat” during reproductive cell division to bias their own transmission to the next generation. Learn more about the Zanders Lab here.
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17 March 2025
Stowers scientists uncover principles underlying the toxicity of “selfish” genes
The findings may help scientists better understand infertility, neurodegeneration, and evolution.
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20 February 2025
Meet the Faculty: SaraH Zanders, Ph.D., explains why now is an exciting time to pursue a Ph.D. in Biology
The Stowers Institute’s inherent collaborative nature, combined with access to cutting-edge technologies and mentorship from Stowers Technology Center experts, allows students to approach biological questions from multiple angles.
Read Article
#Stowers25: Celebrating 25 Years
28 October 2025
Making the impossible possible: 25 years of innovation and technology
Jim and Virginia Stowers envisioned a world-class research institute in Kansas City with a mission to unravel the secrets of life. Making their mission a reality required a deliberate commitment to hire the brightest scientists and invest heavily in technology to support innovation.
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