Scott E. Lindner

About Me

Dr. Scott E. Lindner was born and raised in Chicagoland. He did his undergraduate training at the Florida Institute of Technology (Melbourne, FL), which is far warmer than Chicago in the winter. Dr. Lindner then completed his Ph.D. in Cancer Biology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is slightly colder than Chicago in the winter. Dr. Lindner conducted post-doctoral training in x-ray crystallography (University of Wisconsin-Madison), as well as molecular parasitology at the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, which is far rainier than Chicago. Since 2013, Dr. Lindner has been a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Penn State University in State College, PA, which he finds to be a lovely place to live and work.

Leadership (2024-2025)

• President-Elect - American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - American Committee of Molecular, Cellular, and ImmunoParasitology (ACMCIP) Subgroup
• Executive Committee - Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics (CIDD)
• Co-Director - Huck Center for Malaria Research (CMaR)

Service (2024-2025)

• Federal Demonstration Partnership, US National Academies - Penn State Faculty Representative
• Schreyer Honors College - Honors Advisor (BMB)
• Biotechnology Curriculum and Assessment Committee - Member (BMB)
• BMMB Graduate Student Admissions - Member (BMB)

Program or Department Affiliations

Centers

Research Summary

Our laboratory couples molecular parasitology and structural biology to study the malaria parasite (Plasmodium spp.). Malaria is still one of the great global health challenges today. Conservative estimates from the World Health Organization indicate that, every year, about 200 million people become infected, with over 0.5 million people dying from their infection. Most of these fatalities disproportionately affect pregnant women and kids under the age of 5 in the Global South.

Significant efforts have been made to develop new drugs and vaccines. However, the mounting resistance to these drugs and the limited efficacy of the current generation of vaccines have not allowed us to meet the goals of malaria elimination and eradication.

In response to this, our laboratory conducts Discovery Phase research using the mouse-infective malaria parasite Plasmodium yoelii that focuses on crucial aspects of the parasite’s growth, development, and transmission. We focus on essential processes during bottlenecks of the parasite’s life cycle, with a special emphasis on translational control of mRNAs across transmission events and the use of specialized ribosomes to drive cellular growth, development, and differentiation decisions.

Honors or Awards

Selected Publications

• To view publications for Dr. Scott Lindner visit his Penn State PURE Page or his NCBI My Bibliography Page.