EDUCATION:
LABORATORY EXPERIENCE:
Graduate Research at Emory (2013-present)
Undergraduate Research at UGA (2010-2011)
Undergraduate Research at Emory (SURE) (Summer 2009)
WORK/TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Created and manned a booth for the 2015 ATL Science Festival Exploration Expo entitled "Hydrophobicity in Action: Acetone Dissolving Act" (March 2015)
Participated as a Judge at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair (Spring 2014)
Participated in running booths for ATL Science Festival Exploration Expo with lab (March 2014)
Lab TA for organic chemistry at Emory (Fall 2013 - spring 2014)
Participated as a Judge at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair (Spring 2013)
Participated as a Judge at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair (Spring 2012)
Tutoring in Organic Chemistry (Spring 2012) - classroom setting
Employment at Oxford Chemistry Dept. (Spring 2011)
Tutoring in General Chemistry (Spring 2011) - personal tutor
Tutoring in General Chemistry (Fall 2010) - personal tutor
Tutoring in Organic Chemistry (Spring 2010) - classroom setting
Participated as a Judge at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair (Spring 2010)
Summer work at Oxford Chemistry Dept. (Summer 2008)
Work Study in the Oxford Chemistry Dept. (Spring 2008)
Work Study in the Oxford Chemistry Dept. (Fall 2008)
LABORATORY TECHNIQUES
Graduate Research at Emory (2013 - present)
Undergraduate Research at UGA (2010-2011)
Summer Undergraduate Research at Emory (2009)
AWARDS
PUBLICATIONS
MEMBERSHIPS
- Associate of Arts and Science, Oxford of Emory University, Oxford, GA; May 2009
- Bachelor of Science, Biochemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; Dec. 2011
- Completed Honors Thesis
- Graduated with High Honors
- Began graduate work at Emory University, Chemistry department, biomolecular division, June 2013
LABORATORY EXPERIENCE:
Graduate Research at Emory (2013-present)
- RNA gene therapy project. I have pioneered this work since May 1, 2013 largely on my own, and asking questions of many other labs at Emory, Tech and UGA. I am happy to say as of May 2015 I am acquiring some of my first significant results.
Undergraduate Research at UGA (2010-2011)
- Independent research under Dr. Mohanty analyzing the effect of RNase T, PH, D and BN mutations on the 3’ processing of met and pro tRNAs via RNA isolation and Northern blot analysis. (Summer/Fall 2011)
- Independent research under Dr. Mohanty, analyzing the growth of E. coli mutants upon overexpression of poly(A) polymerase (PAP1). (Spring/Fall 2010)
- Independent research in Dr. Kushner’s genetics lab under Dr. Mohanty studying tRNA processing in E. coli. (Spring/Fall 2010)
- Independent research under Dr. Mohanty, attempting to add a His-tag to poly(A) polymerase (PAP1) in E. coli. (Spring/Fall 2010)
Undergraduate Research at Emory (SURE) (Summer 2009)
- Intro to research working with Melissa Patterson in Dr. Conticello’s lab, studying biomaterials.
- Expressed elastin mimetic polypeptide repeat in E. coli with an unnatural amino acid (L-DOPA).
- Analyzed protein via mass spectrometry
WORK/TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Created and manned a booth for the 2015 ATL Science Festival Exploration Expo entitled "Hydrophobicity in Action: Acetone Dissolving Act" (March 2015)
Participated as a Judge at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair (Spring 2014)
Participated in running booths for ATL Science Festival Exploration Expo with lab (March 2014)
Lab TA for organic chemistry at Emory (Fall 2013 - spring 2014)
Participated as a Judge at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair (Spring 2013)
Participated as a Judge at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair (Spring 2012)
Tutoring in Organic Chemistry (Spring 2012) - classroom setting
Employment at Oxford Chemistry Dept. (Spring 2011)
- Set up and broke down general chemistry labs
- Organized and cleaned lab spaces
- Managed other student workers setting up the labs
Tutoring in General Chemistry (Spring 2011) - personal tutor
Tutoring in General Chemistry (Fall 2010) - personal tutor
Tutoring in Organic Chemistry (Spring 2010) - classroom setting
Participated as a Judge at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair (Spring 2010)
Summer work at Oxford Chemistry Dept. (Summer 2008)
- Assisted in cleaning the labs and replacing old equipment
- Assisted in doing inventory, reorganizing and creating a map of all equipment and lab supplies
Work Study in the Oxford Chemistry Dept. (Spring 2008)
- Assisted Ms. Harmon in setting up general chemistry labs
- Assisted in setting up Organic I labs
- Helped students use NMR
- Cleaned and maintained equipment and lab space
Work Study in the Oxford Chemistry Dept. (Fall 2008)
- Assisted in setting up general chemistry labs
- Cleaned and maintained lab space and equipment
LABORATORY TECHNIQUES
Graduate Research at Emory (2013 - present)
- SDS-PAGE mini protean tetra cell gels for RNA, DNA and protein
- RNA in vitro transcription, purification and 5' end labeling with fluorescent dye
- protein expression, isolation, purification using Ni:NTA columns
- Typhoon fluorescence imaging
- gold nanoparticle synthesis
- transformations
- Nanodrop
- minipreps
- PCR
Undergraduate Research at UGA (2010-2011)
- electrophoresis minigels (DNA/RNA)
- electrocompetent cells
- transformations (chemical/electroporation)
- plasmid isolation (Quiagen)
- transductions
- P1 lystates
- P1 assay
- PCR
- plasmid construction
- growth curves and dilutions
- RNA isolation and extraction
- Nanodrop
- removing kan cassettes w/ FLP recombinase
- replica plating
- Northern analysis
- probing and stripping Northern blots
Summer Undergraduate Research at Emory (2009)
- SDS-PAGE
- agarose gel electrophoresis minigels
- transformation (electroporation)
- plasmid isolation
- plasmid construction
- protein overexpression, isolation and dialysis
- mass spectrometry
AWARDS
- Honorable Mention for 2014 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
- SURE Research Award (Summer 2009)
- Naval Science Research Award (State Science Fair 2005)
- Sigma XI Society State Award for Research (State Science Fair 2003)
- UGA Microbiology Award (State Science Fair 2003)
- Discovery Young Scientist Challenge Certificate (State Science Fair 2003)
PUBLICATIONS
- Acknowledged in the paper, “Deregulation of poly(A)polymerase I in Escherichia coli inhibits protein synthesis and leads to cell death," in the journal Nucleic Acids Research (in press, December 2012)
MEMBERSHIPS
- Alpha Epsilon Upsilon Honor Society (2007-2009)