Experience

Conagen

• United States
• Biotechnology Research
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Scientist III

  • Apr 2018 - Present

  Engineered yeast and bacteria for the production of numerous compounds to be used as ingredients in consumer products such as food or cosmetics Produced multiple bioactive peptides using P. pastoris, E. coli, B. subtilis, and a species of chytrid as host microorganism Engineered terpene biosynthesis pathways in yeast and E. coli including screening novel enzymes and implementing metabolic engineering strategies to increase precursors and decrease side reactions Improved strains through the use of both rational engineering and high throughput screening of randomly mutagenized cells Implemented DNA assembly techniques for the cloning of repetitive proteins Prepared invention disclosures and provisional patents Performed experiments to aid in patent defense litigation Show less



Gevo

• Englewood, Co

• Scientist - Metabolic Engineering

  • Sep 2016 - Dec 2017

  • Member of strain development team working to improve the titer, yield, and productivity tolerance of a yeast strain engineered to produce isobutanol • Successfully produced an improved yeast strain using chemostat evolution • Modeled a synthetic pathway for isobutanol in S. cerevisiae using flux balance analysis • Expressed additional copies of isobutanol pathway genes to confirm model predictions • Evaluated a series of synthetic genes of unknown function for their effect on isobutanol tolerance Show less



J. Craig Venter Institute

• United States
• Biotechnology Research
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Aug 2013 - Jun 2016

  Member of team that worked on a Department of Energy funded project to engineer cellulosomes in S. cerevisiae for the production of ethanol from corn stover • Successfully led effort to demonstrate cellulosic ethanol fermentations during two DOE site visits • Designed DNA fragments that encode cellulase and ligninase enzymes, then cloned them into expression vectors using Gibson and E. coli mediated assembly • Heterologously expressed over 40 cellulase enzymes in S. cerevisiae using transformation techniques that include CRISPR-Cas 9 • Developed high throughput assays to identify novel synergy between cellulase enzymes Show less



University of Massachusetts Amherst

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Graduate Research Assistant

  • Sep 2008 - May 2013

  • Optimized substrate consumption of S. cerevisiae - E. coli co-cultures through the in vitro validation of a dynamic flux balance model • Demonstrated saccharification and ethanol production by a mixed culture of T. reesei, S. cerevisiae, and S. stipitis cultured on cellulose and xylan • Maximized ethanol production by a S. cerevisiae - S. stipitis co-culture based on aeration and incoculum preparations predicted by a dynamic flux balance model • Established protocol for culturing C. ljungdahlii on fructose and syngas in serum bottles and a bioreactor for the production of ethanol • Investigated effects of inhibitors found in lignocellulosic hydrolysates on S. cerevisiae and S. stipitis ethanol production in bioreactors and with flux balance modeling • Confirmed growth of P. chrysosporium in a bioreactor for the conversion of cellulose to pinene • Assisted microbiology students in culturing Clostridium phytofermentens in a bioreactor • Evaluated a feedstock composed of post-consumer recycled waste for potential use in biological conversion processes on the basis of particle size, ease of enzymatic digestion, and toxicity to microorganisms • Trained and mentored 3 undergraduate students in laboratory and computational research • Teaching assistant for Process Control, Mathematical Modeling, and Fundamentals of Cellular Engineering courses Show less



University of Massachusetts Amherst

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Undergraduate Researcher, Institute for Cellular Engineering REU

  • Jun 2007 - Aug 2007

  Characterized a series of soy oil in water emulsion formulations based on droplet size distribution and viscosity for potential drug delivery applications Characterized a series of soy oil in water emulsion formulations based on droplet size distribution and viscosity for potential drug delivery applications