Qualifications
Degrees:
B. S. in Biology, 2014, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Ph.D. in Genome Sciences, 2020, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Advisor: Celeste Berg
Postdoctoral fellow in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2021 – present, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California. Advisor: Itay Budin
Research Training:
Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity Scholar (IMSD), Director: Maggie Werner-Washburne, University of New Mexico (2011 – 2014)
Role: Received career mentoring and training, guidance for a scientific career path and graduate school applications, and support for scientific research and scientific conference attendance.
Undergraduate student researcher, Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity program (IMSD), Cannon lab, Departments of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico (May 2011 - January 2012)
Role: Studied role of mice’s CD43 protein in T-cell migration.
Summer intern, Eichler lab, Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington (Summer 2013):
Project: Assembled a non-human primate’s chromosomal region to study influence of copy number variation in human evolution (contributing author of published work).
Undergraduate student researcher, Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity program (IMSD), Bizzozero lab, Department of Cell Biology and Pathology, University of New Mexico (January 2012 - July 2014)
Role: Quantified protein density in different cell types of mice cerebellum to study the role of proteasome activity in Multiple Sclerosis.
Graduate student, Brewer lab, Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington (May 2015 - November 2016): Role: Engineered a yeast mutant system to test a mechanistic model that gives rise to genomic copy number variants.
Graduate student/Postdoctoral fellow, Berg lab, Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington (January 2017 – December 2020)
Role: Identified and characterized the genetic pathway for CLP growth factors, which play an important role in developmental processes.
Senior Research Scientist, Geneticist, Future Fields (March 2021 – October 2021)
Role: Stabilized the Drosophila melanogaster model system to express transgenic growth factors for cultured meat production.
Postdoctoral fellow, Budin lab, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego (December 2021-present)
Role: Elucidating the biological role of polyunsaturated fatty acids transferred through diet for Drosophila’s adaptation to cold temperature.