Experience

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  Buck Institute for Research on Aging

  • United States
  • Research
  • 300 - 400 Employee

  • Staff Scientist

    • Oct 2007 - Present

    Project 1 : Development of Strategies to Decrease BACE-1 Cleavage of the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) o Designed and managed an independent research project in which discrete parts were successfully executed by high school and undergraduate volunteers to characterize the likelihood of pathogenicity for rare polymorphisms of APP found in patients with neurodegenerative disease. Volunteers were trained in molecular biology, cell culture and protein expression and purification techniques. o Worked with colleagues to create a pipeline for drug discovery within the lab. Responsibilities included conducting experiments to measure small molecule protein binding using SPR and intrinsic fluorescence.o Used surface plasmon resonance and SAXS to map the intramolecular interactions that stabilize the structure of the ectodomain of APP.o Demonstrated that sAPPα is an direct inhibitor of BACE-1 using enzyme activity assaysProject 2 : Development of Strategies to Block Sensitization of Neurons to Cell Death by ApoE4Collaborator: Ram Rao o Expressed and purified: apoE3, apoE4 and domains of RelA o Developed surface plasmon resonance assays to measure DNA and RelA binding to apoE o Discovered apoE binds to the transactivation domain of RelAProject 3: Characterization of the binding of netrin-1 to the amyloid precursor protein o Bioinformatic analysis of netrin-1 to locate possible binding sites of APP resulting in the identification of loops most likely to be involved in the complex o Design of cyclic peptide mimics for those loops

  • Program Director, STEAM ENGINE Teacher Outreach Program

    • Jan 2015 - Present

    The STEAM ENGINE Teacher Outreach Program puts on periodic workshops for local science teachers. As program director, I plan the content of the workshops, lead the development of educational materials, recruit speakers and coordinate with local education agencies.

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  AN2H

  • Buck Institute for Research on Aging

  • Consultant

    • Mar 2015 - Jun 2015
    • Buck Institute for Research on Aging

    Crystallization of a target protein and small molecule soaking experiments for drug discovery

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  The J. David Gladstone Institutes

  • United States
  • Research Services
  • 500 - 600 Employee

  • Research Scientist

    • Jan 2003 - Mar 2008

    1. Determined the molecular envelope of apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4) bound to model HDL particles at 10 angstroms resolution using x-ray crystallography.2. Found that the molecular envelope of the apoE4 predicted by x-ray crystallography was consistent with the molecular envelope of apoE4 bound to model HDL particles as determined by small angle x-ray scattering using contrast methods.3. Studied the aggregation of polyglutamine containing proteins and their complex with the 3B5H10 antibody in solution using small angle x-ray crystallography.

  • Postdoctoral Fellow

    • Sep 1997 - Jan 2003

    1. Determined the high resolution crystal structure of amino-terminal domain of apoE4, K146Q, K146E variants of human apoE (pdb code 1B68, 1EA8, 1H7I)2. Crystallized and determined the crystal structure of the amino-terminal domain of mouse apoE (pdb code 1YA9)3. Modeled the binding of heparin to apoE and did extensive co-crystallization trials with amino-terminal domain of apoE and heparin fragments.4. Crystallized the Fab fragment of 3B5H10, an antibody specific for polyglutamine repeats and determined its crystal structure in two different crystal forms (pdb code 4DCQ and 3S96)5. Analyzed the binding of the 3B5H10 Fab to polyglutamine peptides with tryptophan fluoresence.

• 

  Himeji Institute of Technology

  • Hyogo, Japan

  • New Energy Development Organization Fellow

    • Mar 1996 - Mar 1997
    • Hyogo, Japan

    1. Analyzed the crystal structures of reduced and oxidized cytochrome c oxidase2. Learned to purify and crystallize bovine cytochrome c oxidase ( a 10 subunit membrane protein complex)3. Improved the diffraction of crystals of methionine aminopeptidase using controlled dehydration

• 

  University of Washington

  • Seattle, Wa

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant

    • Jan 1992 - Jun 1993
    • Seattle, Wa

    1. Graduate Teaching Assistant: Biological Structure 501, Gross Anatomy (Anatomy of the thorax, abdomen, pelvis and embryology), C. Rosse instructor, 19922. Graduate Teaching Assistant: Biological Structure 515, X-ray crystallography, R. Stenkamp instructor, 1993

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  San Francisco State University

  • San Francisco Bay Area

  • Lecturer

    • Jan 1989 - Jun 1990
    • San Francisco Bay Area

    Lecturer: Physics 112, General Physics Laboratory

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  Dairy Laboratory

  • San Francisco Bay Area

  • Quality Control Laboratory Technician

    • Apr 1987 - Dec 1989
    • San Francisco Bay Area

    Tested product samples for bacterial contamination. Isolated bacteriophage resistant strains of bacteria for the culture of yogurt and butter milk. Characterized bacteriophage samples from customers.

• 

  UCSF

  • Radiation Oncology

  • Laboratory Assistant

    • May 1986 - Dec 1986
    • Radiation Oncology

    Toxicological and efficacy testing of prospective cancer drugs