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Faculty Member

Professor Colleen Hough

Biography

I was born and raised in Los Angeles county, CA. I attended Bishop Amat High School. I earn my BS in Biology from UC Irvine, my MS in Microbiology at Washington State University working on tetracycline resistance, and my PhD in Developmental and Cell Biology from UC Irvine working on an the Dlg protein in Drosophila. I did a post doc at the National Institute on Aging working on gene expression profiles of ovarian tumors. I have worked in the Utah State Crime Lab as a Criminalist in the Biology Section and on the Crime Scene team, at Prolexys Pharmaceuticals in the high throughput cloning section, at the Huntsman Cancer Institute as a junior faculty member of the Ob/Gyn Department, and in the Modified and Activated Carbon Center of Excellence at the University of Utah as a faculty member of the Metallurgical Engineering Department. I have taught Biotech classes at Salt Lake Community College as an adjunct professor and worked at a local biotech company, Idaho Technologies before coming to UVU as an assistant professor in the Biotechnology Program.

Education

PhD, University of California, Irvine, 1997

Major: Developmental and Cell Biology

MS, Washington State University, 1992

Major: Microbiology

BS, University of California, Irvine, 1986

Major: Biology

Teaching

BTEC 4810R

Biotechnology Internship, Summer 2026

BTEC 4890R

Student Research, Summer 2026

BTEC 4890R

Student Research, Summer 2026

BTEC 4890R

Student Research, Summer 2026

BTEC 2040

Advanced Nucleic Acid Laboratory, Spring 2026

BTEC 4810R

Biotechnology Internship, Spring 2026

BTEC 4810R

Biotechnology Internship, Spring 2026

BTEC 1010

Fundamentals of Biotechnology I Career Survey, Spring 2026

BTEC 1010

Fundamentals of Biotechnology I Career Survey, Spring 2026

BIOL 4890R

Student Research, Spring 2026

BIOL 4890R

Student Research, Spring 2026

BTEC 4890R

Student Research, Spring 2026

BTEC 4940R

Student Seminar, Spring 2026

Presentations

Hough, Colleen (Co-Author), Pooley, Richard (Co-Presenter), Nuetzal, Jonah (Co-Author), Rios, Mimi (Co-Author), Whitley, Kiara , COS Poster Symposium, "CRISPR Designed Gene Modification of Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 within Ovarian Cancer Cells", UVU Biology, UVU. (April, 2026)
Hough, Colleen , Pooley, Richard (Co-Presenter), Nuetzel, Jonah (Co-Presenter), Rios, Mimi (Co-Author), UVU Showcase, "CRISPR Designed Gene Modification of Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 within Ovarian Cancer Cells", UVU, UVU. (April, 2026)
Hough, Colleen , Crawford, Nico (Co-Author), Harmer, Hagen (Co-Author), COS Poster Symposium, "Conversion of Polyethylene Terephthalate into Methane via Biological Engineering", UVU Biology, UVU. (December, 2025)
Crawford, Colleen D (Co-Author), Crawford, Nico (Presenter & Author), Harmer, Hagen (Co-Author), Institution of Biological Engineering Conference, "Determining the Feasibility of Converting Plastic Waste to Methane", IBE, Salt Lake City. (September 12, 2025)
Hough, Colleen , Harmer, Hagen (Co-Presenter), Crawford, Nico (Co-Presenter), College of Science Poster Symposium, "Bioreactor fermentation to produce industry-relevant proteins", UVU COS, UVU. (April 21, 2025)
Kinross, Jonathan (Presenter & Author), Hough, Colleen (Author Only), West Coast Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference, "Bloom Buster_ Engineering Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to combat toxic algal blooms", WCBSURC, CSU San Marcos, CA. (April 12, 2025)

Awards

Academic Affairs Distinguished Award for Workforce Readiness

UVU Provost/ Academic Affairs - April, 2026

FROM THE PROVOST_ You were nominated for this award by Scott Snow, and your nomination was judged based on your demonstration of excellence in furthering the mission of the University through innovation, creativity, service, dedication, leadership, efficiency, exceptional performance, contribution to the University, effectiveness, or inclusion within Utah Valley University. This had a lot to do with my commitment to the University Apprenticeship Working Group.