Experience

Caltech

• United States
• Research Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Graduate Student Researcher

  • Jun 2014 - Feb 2021

  During my graduate training, I studied the roles of SMRT1/HDAC-1 Associated Repressor Protein (SHARP) in early T-cell development, as well as in long non-coding RNA mediated gene regulation. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was part of a team of investigators who explored host-RNA/protein interactions used by SARS-CoV-2 for suppression of the host interferon response.

• Graduate Student Researcher

  • Jun 2013 - Jun 2014

  During my first summer rotation project with the Patterson laboratory, I worked on Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy vector development, specifically using a novel directed evolution-based screening approach to engineer and select engineer novel AAV capsid variants that could more selectively transduce a target cell population of interest. Using this approach, our group was able to identify two variants that more efficiently transduce the central nervous system. I later had the… Show more During my first summer rotation project with the Patterson laboratory, I worked on Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy vector development, specifically using a novel directed evolution-based screening approach to engineer and select engineer novel AAV capsid variants that could more selectively transduce a target cell population of interest. Using this approach, our group was able to identify two variants that more efficiently transduce the central nervous system. I later had the opportunity to present results from our work at the 2014 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting. Moreover, results from our study were published in a 2016 paper in Nature Biotechnology entitled “Cre-dependent selection yields AAV variants for widespread gene transfer to the adult brain.”



UCLA

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Undergraduate Researcher in the Martinez-Agosto Laboratory

  • Jun 2008 - Jun 2012

  During my tenure with the Martinez-Agosto research group, I characterized the role of growth signaling pathways in tissue regeneration, and worked on adapting a previously established pro-drug mediated tissue ablation system for use in the Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly. Results from this project led to several poster presentations at our university’s annual Science Poster Day event and ultimately culminated into my Undergraduate Senior Thesis in June 2012. In addition in… Show more During my tenure with the Martinez-Agosto research group, I characterized the role of growth signaling pathways in tissue regeneration, and worked on adapting a previously established pro-drug mediated tissue ablation system for use in the Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly. Results from this project led to several poster presentations at our university’s annual Science Poster Day event and ultimately culminated into my Undergraduate Senior Thesis in June 2012. In addition in collaboration with the Vilain lab at UCLA, I helped develop and characterize a Drosophila melanogaster model of a rare, growth-restriction condition called IMAGe Syndrome and the role of a gene called Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-Inhibitor N1C (CDKN1C) in the disease. Results from this project led to a paper in Nature Genetics in 2012 entitled “Mutations in the PCNA-binding domain of CDKN1C cause IMAGe syndrome.”

• Undergraduate Consortium for Functional Genomics Student Volunteer

  • Jan 2008 - Jun 2008

  In my first research experience, I participated in a genomics screen using a fluorescent protein-based cell lineage tracing system, examining gene expression patterns in the Drosophila melanogaster lymph gland hematopoietic tissue and wing imaginal disc. In the following quarter, I independently verified previous students’ results and examined expression patterns in larval brain tissue and eye imaginal discs, before formally joining the Martinez-Agosto laboratory.