Rate My Professor Matthew Pawlus

Matthew Pawlus is an Associate Professor of Biology in the School of Natural Sciences at Black Hills State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado, with dissertation research on the role of co-activating factors in the HIF-mediated hypoxia response. Pawlus completed postdoctoral research at the University of Washington’s Institute for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine. He joined Black Hills State University as Assistant Professor of Biology and advanced to Associate Professor. As faculty in the Master of Science in Integrative Genomics program, he contributes to graduate education in molecular biology techniques and genomics.

Pawlus's research examines how environmental biotoxins, especially beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) from cyanobacterial algae blooms, disrupt human cell functions and contribute to neurodegenerative diseases. His lab has shown that BMAA activates canonical Wnt signaling in neuroblastoma cells, causing reduced proliferation, elevated reactive oxygen species, cytotoxicity, and impaired neuronal differentiation reversible by Wnt inhibitors, while inducing proliferation in glioblastoma cells via distinct pathways. He is corresponding author on PLOS ONE publications including "The biotoxin BMAA promotes mesenchymal transition in neuroblastoma cells" (2024) and "The biotoxin BMAA promotes dysfunction via distinct mechanisms in neuroblastoma and glioblastoma cells" (2023), both affiliated with Black Hills State University's Department of Natural Sciences. Pawlus secured an NIH NIGMS R15 grant of $484,122 for "Aptamers as Novel Inhibitors of the Neurotoxin Beta-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA)" to assess BMAA effects and develop inhibitory aptamers in cell models. He received the Outstanding Service Award from the BHSU College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences (2024-2025) and serves on the Institutional Research Board (Animal Care and Human Subjects Committee). His mentorship has led student research to national presentations, including at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.