Katrina Velle is a cell biologist interested in cytoskeleton-driven phenotypes and pathogenic microbes. She is investigating the contributions of actin networks to cell migration, cell division, and osmoregulation in Naegleria, including the “brain-eating amoeba.” She received her PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from UConn in 2018, and worked with Dr. Fritz-Laylin at UMass Amherst for her postdoctoral research. She is now an Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology at UMass Dartmouth. Her work has been supported by an NIH F32 fellowship (NIAID), an NIH K99/R00 Award (NIGMS), and Amazing Aven's Quest for Amoeba Awareness.