Caroline L. Ng, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Pathology and Microbiology 
University of Nebraska Medical Center

As a child growing up in Malaysia, Caroline Ng was instructed to alert her parents if she had periodic fevers and chills – a hallmark of malaria infection. She never did get infected, but the motive to understand this disease was instilled in her. Caroline pursued her passion in both the arts and sciences at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City, where she was empowered to be a leader and inspired to amplify women’s voices. Drawing on her early years, she explored the molecular evolution of malaria parasites and their human host for her senior thesis and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Biology. She subsequently obtained a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from Mount Sinai School of Medicine for the study of stress responses and proteasome-mediated degradation in viral-infected human cells. Motivated by antibacterial drug resistance work performed during summers between college semesters and her long-time interest in malaria, she joined David Fidock’s lab at Columbia University Medical Center where she worked on antimalarial drug resistance mechanisms. In 2017, Caroline Ng started her own lab at University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, and her excellence was recognized with a 2018 UNMC New Investigator Award. Combining her Ph.D. and post-doctoral training, she is currently focusing on cell stress responses and the involvement of the ubiquitin proteasome pathway in antimalarial resistance. Overall, the Ng lab is interested in elucidating the genetics and molecular mechanisms underlying antimalarial drug resistance in an effort to further antimalarial drug discovery efforts.