Research Experience
01/2023 - Present
Undergraduate Research Staff: The Center for Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine
Dr. Larisa Cavallari, College of Pharmacy
University of Florida: Gainesville, FL
I currently work under Dr. Larisa Cavallari to study the correlation between pharmacogenetic properties and reported bleeding risk in the novel drug, Ticagrelor. I have also used Taqman genotyping techniques to investigate CYP2C19 and PON1 gene variants related to clopidogrel.
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I also serve as a Special Projects Assistant for the Center, where I am responsible for laboratory inventory, sample preseervation, and training other undergraduate students.
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Skills Learned:
-Taqman Genotyping
-DNA Isolation techniques
-GWAS
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04/2022 - 11/2023
Team Captain: UFlorida's International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Team
Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering
University of Florida: Gainesville, FL
Led a team of 20+ undergraduate students to to complete and design a research project, “A Multifaceted Model to Study Sepsis Progression”, involving the creation of in-vivo bone marrow organoids and an in-silico mechanistic model to simulate hematopoietic dynamics. My responsibility was both Wet Lab and Human Practices, where I oversaw scientific collaboration with UF and UMiami faculty, and with teams in Greece, Bulgaria, and India.
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Skills Learned:
-iPSC culture and induced differentiation
-Laboratory documentation and management
-Mathematical modeling
-Scientific presentation skills
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11/2021 - 07/2022
CURE LAB: Dr. Xin Tang Integrative Mechanobiology
Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering
University of Florida: Gainesville, FL
Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) courses at the University of Florida allow students to participate in faculty research projects in a classroom setting.
Within Dr. Tang's Lab, I developed cell strec explore the relationship between lung cancer apoptosis and the transgression of the protein 'YAP' to the nucleus of mutated cells in response to mechano-stimulus.
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Skills Learned:
-Cell Culturing Steps
-Preparation of PDMS membranes
-How to operate a light scanning microscope
-Scientific writing conventions
05/2021-09/2021
VIP AI/Machine Learning Intern
NASA Ames GeneLab Program
Palo Alto, CA
"A Causal Inference Machine Learning Analysis of Mouse Liver Transcriptomics"
Under Dr. Lauren Sanders with the Blue Marble Space Institute, I completed a technical review of CRISP, a novel causal inference machine learning platform, to investigate space-flown mouse transcriptomics in relation to fatty acid liver disease. As fatty acid liver disease is an underlying cause of astronaut fatalities post-flight, the GeneLab faculty want to understand what genetic triggers in mammals exist for the development of intracellular lipids, and what trends in activated genes exits on the International Space station versus ground control studies in mice.
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Skills Learned
-Python Coding Language and Panda Database Conversion
-Basic Machine Learning Logic
-Performance of GSEA Analysis
-Scientific Presentation Skills