Current and Former Projects
Organelle Regulation in S. cerevisiae
May 2016 - Present
I have been working under the mentorship of Dr. Mark Chan since 2016 as both an NIH Bridges and NIH MARC scholar, and have been working on elucidating the relationship between vacuolar size and vacuolar pH in the model Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. My work is an extension of a set of experiments carried out previous to my involvement with the lab, where vacuolar pH measurements were made in mutant yeast strains. These early results inspired me to develop a methodology to use fluorescent dyes to observe size and pH in wild-type yeast. Through my experience with this project, I learned to use computational tools to take measurements of pH and 3D modeling of organelle structure. I later moved on to independently develop Python and ImageJ scripts to automate and deepen the analysis of my data.
My findings have revealed interesting findings that are different from our initial hypotheses, and I am working towards furthering our understanding by implementing new experiments to address these questions. From my work, I have achieved a deeper understanding of the dynamic process of organelle regulation. This work has also contributed to my passion for confocal microscopy and high-throughput image analysis to understand molecular regulations.
I have had the honor of taking my work to multiple conferences and events, and I have had the distinction of winning several awards for my presentation skills.
Pictured right: S. cerevisiae labeled with FM-4-64 (red) and GFP (green).
Osteoblast Regulation in Neonatal Mice
Summer of 2018
During my participation in the NYU SURP, I worked under the mentorship of Dr. Nicola C. Partridge where I worked on determining the role of a protein phosphatase in a cell signaling cascade. In this project, I was able to combine my established skills with confocal microscopy with my desire to learn new molecular techniques to collect significant data. I studied the signaling cascade that is induced by parathyroid hormone (PTH) in the osteoblast, which induces a pathway that is involved with the communication between bone forming osteoblasts and bone resorbing osteoclasts. The regulation of this pathway is an important aspect of the balance between bone formation and bone resorption, and dysregulation of this crosstalk can lead to the development of osteoporosis. Previous work has outlined the involved proteins, but the involvement of protein phosphatases was yet to be determined, and my work bridged this gap in knowledge. My work gave further evidence for the involvement of protein phosphatases and led to the design and implementation of co-immunoprecipitation experiments to further develop this theory.
Pictued right: primary osteoblasts harvested from neonatal calvaria cells. Nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue) and our protein of interest (CRTC3) labeled with a green antibody.
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NIH Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program
May 2015 - May 2017
The NIH Bridges to the baccalaureate program was my formal introduction to science. This program was geared towards community college students who exhibited an interest in pursuing a scientific career. In this program, I was exposed to the career options that are available after the completion of a PhD. This program was my first step towards pursuing a graduate degree, and it taught me the basics of experimental design and literature reviews. The first year consisted of training and education, and the second year encompassed my involvement with the research being done in Dr. Mark Chan’s lab.
