The following was submitted as part of the CASE dean’s November 2025 newsletter.

Dr. Gina Yosten recently joined Missouri S&T as the Kummer Endowed Chair of Biological Sciences, bringing with her nearly 20 years of leadership and scientific excellence from Saint Louis University School of Medicine. An award-winning educator and internationally recognized physiologist, Yosten has made significant contributions to the fields of metabolism, neuroendocrinology, and receptor biology. Her pioneering work on novel regulatory peptides and orphan receptors has reshaped scientific understanding of appetite control, stress responses, cardiovascular function, and pregnancy-related physiology. She has led multiple extramurally-funded projects, earned numerous teaching awards from graduate students, and mentored a generation of young scientists who now work in academia, biotechnology, and medicine.

Yosten’s research program continues to explore how hormonal and neural pathways maintain health across the lifespan, with current projects focused on the neuroendocrine regulation of fluid balance in pregnancy and its downstream impact on blood pressure in pregnancy; neuronal-endocrine interactions in rare diseases, particularly Prader Willi syndrome; stress-induced changes in ingestive behaviors; and cell-cell and hormonal interactions in metabolic diseases such as diabetes. Her work integrates molecular biology, physiology, and translational science, using next-generation techniques to understand how the spatial organization of cells and their molecular components shapes disease development and progression. Since joining Missouri S&T, she has obtained  approximately $4 million in extramural funding to pursue these projects, and is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Foundation for Prader Willi Research, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, and the Breakthrough T1D foundation. Most importantly, she is committed to expanding opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in hands-on research that prepares them for the rapidly evolving bioscience workforce.

Looking ahead, Yosten is leading an ambitious transformation of biological sciences at Missouri S&T. Her vision includes expanding research capacity through fostering interactions with industry partners, launching innovative graduate programs in biomedicine and applied biotechnology, strengthening rural health and biotechnology pipelines, and building cross-disciplinary collaborations through the university’s Bio-X and Kummer initiatives. By growing faculty excellence, enhancing experiential learning, and fostering partnerships across campus, industry, and the region, Yosten aims to position Missouri S&T as a destination for cutting-edge biological discovery and a leader in training the next generation of scientists, physicians, and biotech innovators.