Megan Hall

Associate Editor

Megan is a native southern Californian who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from UC Santa Barbara, where she examined the role of metal ion-dependent enzymatic DNA cleavage using X-ray crystallography. She turned her interest in nucleic acid-protein interactions to the RNA world as a graduate student in Dr. Douglas Black’s lab at UCLA, where she received her PhD for determining the role of subnuclear localization of a splicing factor and its target pre-mRNA on splicing during neuronal development. As a postdoc, she moved to the front of the pre-mRNA with Dr. C. Kiong Ho at SUNY Buffalo, where she identified and biochemically characterized a suite of novel pre-mRNA capping enzymes from the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma brucei. Her California roots brought her back for a second postdoc in Dr. Manuel Ares’s lab at UC Santa Cruz, where she examined how global pre-mRNA splicing changes contribute to the early stages of muscle development. Her interest in communicating science sprung from her association over the past decade with an educational non-profit group in Los Angeles (EdBoost). She joined PLoS Biology in 2011, and is excited to support open access publishing and facilitate scientific communication. In her spare time, she shuffles through triathlons, takes exception to cold water swimming, and is researching a historically-based scientific novel.