Brenda Cruz Email & Phone Number

San Leandro, California, United States

San Leandro, California, United States

Contribute to advancements of Tierra's cell-free systems, related reagents, and Tierra Protein Platform

San Leandro, California, United States

• Executed the development of a new cell-free system capable of producing biologics and drug targets with disulfide domains within 6 months from initial scoping and planning of project, proof-of-concept, feasibility.
• Spearheaded the high-throughput screening initiative for numerous challenging customer proteins across various conditions; collected and analyzed data to identify patterns and determine effective approaches to enhance.
• Collaborated with a cross-functional team of 15 employees to design and implement the protein synthesis process and launched the first iteration of the company’s e-commerce protein production platform within 12 months
• Drove the tech-transfer research findings into new protein synthesis features for the second iteration of the company’s protein production platform; increased yields and protein production success rate by 50%
• Developed the downstream fermentation processes with Fermentation Scientists, resulting in a 10-fold increase of cell-free lysate production
• Established over 40 GMP-compliant technical and work-instructions; trained and guided a team of 3 manufacturing technicians, boosting efficiency by 25% and elevating quality control standards

Berkeley, California, United States

• Assist fermentation scientist in cell-free extract development and production at 100 mL scale.
• Assist the progress of grants and research projects by designing DNA fragments, running small-scale cell-free reactions and using fluorescent assays to detect protein production
• Learn, troubleshoot and design protocols for our liquid handling robotics for high-throughput experimental screens

• Apply molecular biology techniques to design reporter assays to investigate the regulatory function of conserved introns in the Wnt16 genes in the leech species, Helobdella.
• Apply microscopy techniques to determine the expression pattern of Wnt16a transcription factor in each developmental stage of leech development
• Analyzed DNA sequences of the wnt16 genes and identified their gene structure
• Funded by UC Berkeley’s Biology Scholars Program for Early Researchers and National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF REU)
• Presented a poster presentations and talk for my research project for BSP, SACNAS and NSF-REU, respectively

Berkeley CA

• Conduct one-on-one reading sessions with three elementary students during their after-school program to increase their reading level and reach proficiency
• Interview, hire and manage a group of mentors and improve the efficiency of BUILD in Oakland
• plan and facilitate weekly team meetings to build team culture, communication and discuss educational issues

Berkeley, CA

• Assist with long-term projects, such as MCB faculty awards and postdoc lists by contacting lab managers and principal investigators through email or phone and entering data for LISTSERV
• Formulate and update Excel spreadsheets for administrative purposes such as contact sheets and organizational charts to facilitate communication between BDS departments

Bachelor Of Arts, Molecular And Cell Biology

Activities and Societies: Biology Scholars ProgramMinor in Education

Education record