Experience

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  Allen Institute for Cell Science

  • Seattle, Washington, United States

  • Quantitative Cell Biologist

    • Apr 2022 - Present
    • Seattle, Washington, United States

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  University of California, San Francisco

  • Valerie Weaver Lab

  • Postdoctoral Fellow

    • Feb 2020 - Apr 2022
    • Valerie Weaver Lab

    I used quantitative live imaging to explore the impact of the physical environment on growth and development in 3D human mammary organoids. I addressed fundamental questions about cell biology and mechanobiology in this 3D multicellular context, with broad implications for animal development and disease, particularly cancer.

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  University of California, Berkeley

  • David Bilder Lab

  • Postdoctoral Fellow

    • 2017 - 2019
    • David Bilder Lab

    I performed genetic perturbations of cell volume growth and division in the developing fruit fly ovary to explore the mechanical implications of growth. Using a combination of fixed and live imaging I discovered that there is robust feedback between different tissue types in this organ that ensure correct organ morphogenesis and composition even in the face of acute tissue-specific perturbations.

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  Stanford University

  • Julie Theriot Lab

  • PhD Student in Biophysics

    • 2010 - 2017
    • Julie Theriot Lab

    I used live imaging, quantitative image analysis, mathematical modeling, and genetic perturbations to discover a new paradigm of bacterial morphogenesis. I found that bacteria change their size and shape to achieve surface area to volume ratio homeostasis, and demonstrated that this occurs because the rates of surface and volume growth both depend on the current cell volume.

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  Amherst College

  • Anthony Bishop Lab

  • Honors Thesis Student

    • 2009 - 2010
    • Anthony Bishop Lab

    I developed a yeast-based assay to test allele-specific inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatases.

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  Rockefeller University

  • Seth Darst Lab

  • SURF Research Fellow

    • 2008 - 2008
    • Seth Darst Lab

    I worked on expressing, purifying, and crystallizing for structure determination the alpha subunit of the plastidic RNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria.

• 

  Amherst College

  • Caroline Goutte Lab

  • Research Assistant

    • 2007 - 2008
    • Caroline Goutte Lab

    I used classical genetic methods and fluorescence microscopy to examine the effects of various mutations in Notch pathway proteins on vulval development in Caenorhabditis elegans.

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  The University of Arizona

  • Howard Ochman Lab

  • NSF-REU Fellow

    • 2007 - 2007
    • Howard Ochman Lab

    I performed research looking at the effects of chromosome geometry on recombination rate in bacteria.