Hicks earned her bachelor's degree at Marshall University in 2001, and went on to earn her doctorate at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2005. She was an Assistant Member and Principal Investigator at the
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center from 2006 to 2013, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Biology at
Washington University in St. Louis before beginning her current position as a professor at UNC.[2] She was named Sherman Fairchild Foundation Chancellor’s Science Scholars Term Associate Professor in 2022.[3]
Research
Hicks' research focuses largely on the development and implementation of
mass spectrometric methods for
protein identification and characterization. Recent work in the Hicks Lab has focused primarily on two areas. The first is the study of
post-translational modifications and their role in regulation and development. The second involves a novel analytical pipeline for the discovery and characterization of
antimicrobial peptides.
Hicks' research in post-translational modifications typically employs
bottom-up proteomics using
label-free quantification. Much of this research involves the model organism C. reinhardtii, an important organism in biofuel research due to its tendency to accumulate
triacylglycerols. The Hicks Lab has studied the
phosphoproteome of C. reinhardtii in order to examine underlying biological processes.[4][5] Work has also been done to understand cell regulatory pathways, especially the algal analog of the mammalian
TOR pathway.[6] To a similar end, Hicks' group has extended its work to examine how the reversible oxidation of
thiols plays a role in signaling[7] and
effector-triggered immunity.[8]
The increasing threat of
antimicrobial resistance has produced a need for novel
antimicrobial agents.[9] The Hicks Lab has investigated
antimicrobial peptides as a potential source for new antibiotics. Recent work has involved the development of a comprehensive analytical approach using
LC-MS for the identification of novel antimicrobial peptides from botanical,[10][11]fungal,[12] and bacterial[13] sources.