Rate My Professor Laura Bridgewater

Laura Bridgewater is Dean of the College of Life Sciences and Professor of Biology at Brigham Young University. She earned her B.S. in Microbiology from Brigham Young University in 1989, magna cum laude, and her Ph.D. in Genetics from The George Washington University in 1995, cum laude, with academic emphases in molecular biology, gene regulation, and developmental biology. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in human genetics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston from 1995 to 1996 and in molecular genetics at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center from 1996 to 1999, supported by the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Bridgewater joined BYU faculty in 1999 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology, became Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology in 2001, Associate Professor in 2005, and Professor in 2016. Her administrative appointments include Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology from 2011 to 2014, Associate Dean of the College of Life Sciences from 2016 to 2018, Associate Academic Vice President for Faculty Development from 2018 to 2022, and Dean of the College of Life Sciences since 2022.

Dr. Bridgewater's research focuses on the nuclear variant of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (nBMP2), identified by her laboratory in 2010, which regulates skeletal muscle contractions, learning and memory, and immune responses, as well as the gut microbiota's roles in obesity, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, and depression, including responses to high-fat diets, stress, and potential bacteriophage therapies. She has mentored over 160 undergraduate researchers, more than half of whom co-authored peer-reviewed publications or conference presentations. Her research has received funding from National Institutes of Health RO1, RO3, and R15 awards, the Ira and Mary Lou Fulton Family Foundation, and BYU internal grants. Select publications include "Gut microbiota regulates the interaction between diet and genetics to influence glucose tolerance" (Medicines, 2021), "The nuclear variant of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (nBMP2) is expressed in macrophages and alters calcium response" (Scientific Reports, 2019), "Gender-based differences in host behavior and gut microbiota composition in response to high fat diet and stress in a mouse model" (Scientific Reports, 2017), and "The BMP2 nuclear variant, nBMP2, is expressed in mouse hippocampus and impacts memory" (Scientific Reports, 2017). Honors include the BYU Young Scholar Award (2004), College of Life Sciences Outstanding Mentor Award (2008), College Creative Achievement Award (2006), and Alice Louise Reynolds Women-in-Scholarship Lecturer (2006). She has delivered addresses as BYU Forum Speaker (2010), Inaugural Speaker for Utah Valley University Science Symposium Series (2012), and Keynote Speaker for the Richard G. Scott Science Scholarship Inauguration at Utah Valley University (2012).