Project Entitled: "Human Antiviral Gene ISG20 Decreases Particle Production of Qβ Phage"I set out to quantify and visualize how bacterial cells expressing human antiviral interferon-stimulated gene, called ISG20, alter Qβ RNA bacteriophage particle production and burst size compared to non-antiviral GFP-expressing cells. Using a One-Step Growth Curve Infection Assays, I generated numerous growth curves of calculated plaque-forming units (PFU/mL) based on the number of plaques, or dead bacterial cells, infected by the released phage. Additionally, another aim of my project was to optimize the assay for future use with the other bacterial homologs of ISG20 as well as for One-Step experiments against another RNA bacteriophage called MS2 phage.Department of Molecular Microbiology at UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Completed my Honors Thesis in Fall of 2023 entitled, "Functional Characterization of SaAct1 and SaDUF Proteins in Syntrophus aciditrophicus Genome through Bioinformatic Analysis". My project focused on exploratory bioinformatic research on two unknown function genes of interest found early in the metabolic pathway this organism uniquely uses for acetate and ATP production. Numerous bioinformatic tools and databases were utilized for analysis such as NCBI Conserved Domain Search, RCSD Protein Data Bank, STRING Network Analysis, PHYRE2 Protein Structure Prediction Software, and PyMOL Structure Visualization Software.University of Oklahoma School of Biological Sciences (previously OU Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology)

Project entitled: "Identifying Resistance Determinants Against T4 Phage Infection"My work focused on studying bacterial defense mechanisms against bacteriophage infection and determining genes of interest for future study by performing selective mutation and utilizing numerous bioinformatics databases and tools.Department of Molecular Microbiology at UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences