Qi lab

The Crompton Lab is driven to develop non-invasive tumor profiling techniques that rely on the detection and quantification of circulating tumor DNA in patient blood samples. This real-time data collection has the potential to aid in disease diagnosis, determining risk stratification, assessing response to therapy, and mapping tumor progression. These liquid biopsy techniques may provide clinicians with expeditious data to incorporate risk-adapted therapy for pediatric and rare cancers.As an undergraduate research intern, I am helping utilize cell line models and patient-derived xenografts to identify novel combinations of drugs that have synergistic activity against Ewing sarcoma growth. In addition, I assist in processing patient blood samples for isolation and quantification of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and single-cell profiling of circulating tumor cells (CTCs).

As a previous winner of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship award, I am volunteering to help STEM undergrads navigate through research, scholarship applications, and graduate school decisions.

The Director of Writing will be responsible for leading the Community HealthEd writing team. This team consists of Section Chairs, who lead the creation of topic-specific newsletters, and writers who write articles for the newsletters. The Director of Writing is responsible for coordinating collaboration between Section Chairs, approving and offering edits on project proposals, assigning writers to work on specific articles, and communicating with the Editor-in-Chief to coordinate article editing assignments.

Community HealthEd is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that provides a platform for college students to disseminate relevant public health and medical education. Community HealthEd is dedicated to furthering the awareness of relevant health information in the general public.

Virtual tutor providing conceptual reinforcement in core subjects such as mathematics (algebra I, geometry, algebra II, pre-calculus, and calculus), chemistry, and biology to students ranging from middle school to college level.

Selected as one of only two tutors to provide personalized and small-group instruction for upper-level physics courses

Cancer cells are characterized by their tendency to rapidly proliferate and multiply. This lack of replicative control allows cancer cells to invade tissues and disrupt normal cellular functioning. Critical to this rapid proliferation is the ability of cancer cells to synthesize nucleotides and replicate DNA. However, sufficient DNA damage can inhibit cellular replication and induce apoptosis, leading to cancer cell death. Antimetabolites are analogues of pyrimidine and purine bases, sharing key structural features that enable their incorporation into key cellular pathways and can inhibit cellular replication in multiple ways. Pyrimidine and purine antimetabolites can insert themselves into the biosynthetic pathways of their analogue targets and undergo the same chemical processing. However, their residual structural abnormalities enable them to interfere with the DNA replication process by competing with or substituting for natural substrate, leading to nucleotide depletion, structural damage, or downstream disruption of DNA translation.This project will be an organic synthesis of a novel anticancer nucleotide analogue. At least 17 types of antimetabolites are FDA-approved in the United States for treating a wide variety of cancers. However, current antimetabolites have considerable side effects including diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, hair loss, and mouth sores. Furthermore, cancer cells often develop resistance to antimetabolites, prompting the need for novel therapeutics to target cancer in slightly different ways. I will be working on this project primarily with Dr. Songwen Xie, Director of the BS in Chemistry Program at MCPHS University. This project will also be a collaboration with Dr. Greg Landry’s laboratory in the School of Pharmacy, which studies chemotoxicity. The ultimate goal of this project is to synthesize a novel antimetabolite chemotherapeutic and to publish and present these research findings at local and national academic conferences.

The Resident Assistant position involves a wide range of responsibilities. RAs function as resources, mentors, educators, programmers, and administrators for the residents in their community area. RAs work to develop communities on their floor and within their building that encourage their residents' safety, inclusivity, and personal growth. RAs are the liaison between students and many offices in the larger community at MCPHS. RA's are adept in conflict resolution, policy enforcement, and the maintenance of facilities and concomitant administration duties.

The Center for Research and Discovery provides opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies students across all MCPHS campuses. Students and faculty members from all programs are encouraged to come together around shared interests to pursue discoveries that could have a lasting impact on their field.As a member of the Student Advisory Board, I collaborate with other board members and faculty in planning and facilitating programs and conferences to encourage and highlight research done by MCPHS students.

Peer Mentors are experienced and seasoned student leaders who work collaboratively with faculty and staff to assist first-year students in their successful transition to the university. Through one-on-ones, group meetings, ITM (introduction to the major) co-facilitation, and other responsibilities, Peer Mentors serve as role models, advocates, and knowledgeable guides to new students both in and out of the classroom. In addition, Peer Mentors assist students with academic success strategies, identify on-campus resources and activities, and help students acclimate to the college experience.

Responsible for checking the scientific accuracy and relevance of papers and correcting grammatical and structural errors in preparation for publication.

Selected for the Cancer Research Summer Internship Program at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center. I will be exposed to cutting-edge research in cancer biology and will work closely with physician-scientists, cancer biologists, and professionals involved in cancer research. During this program, I joined the laboratory of Daniel Wahl M.D, Ph.D., to research how abnormal metabolism confers radiation resistance in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and use this understanding to design drug-radiation combinations to overcome this resistance. DIPG is a very rare and highly aggressive brain tumor that occurs primarily in children. DIPG is uniformly fatal, and novel therapeutic interventions are urgently needed to partner with radiation therapy, which demonstrates limited efficacy, to improve treatment outcomes. In the majority of DIPG tumors, a single histone H3 tail mutation (H3K27M) is a key event for driving tumorigenesis by rewiring the epigenome via a global reduction in H3K27 methylation, leading to inappropriate gene expression. In the context of this mutation, H3K27M DIPG tumors also exhibit a unique metabolic profile when compared to baseline, specifically in purine metabolite levels. For my project, I used mycophenolic acid (MPA), an IMPDH inhibitor, to target de novo purine synthesis and increase the radiosensitivity of H3K27M DIPG cell lines. Prior research out of the Wahl lab established that inhibition of purine synthesis offers a potential strategy for treating glioblastoma, and my project suggests that therapeutic targeting of purine metabolism in combination with radiation therapy is a promising strategy for improving outcomes in H3K27M DIPG.

The Neppl Laboratory is focused on uncovering the roles that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play in regulating skeletal muscle homeostasis and repair. The laboratory uses conventional biochemical and molecular biology experimental techniques and RNA sequencing to decipher how lncRNAs contribute to skeletal muscle homeostasis. During my time in the Neppl lab, I became proficient in using ImageJ software to measure, analyze, and process cell image data, as well as in performing statistical tests on experimental data to determine significance.

As a retail associate, I further developed and enhanced transferable skills essential to team success in my current and future career:- Empathy is the basis for truly understanding what a customer wants, and is essential for providing customers with exactly the right product.- Patience is crucial for ensuring customers with an optimal experience. Every customer varies in their needs and desires, and a retail associate needs to provide personalized assistance to every customer.- Retail associates must be quick learners, especially in an industry where products are constantly being re-invented and new products are introduced on a yearly basis. In order to provide customers with the right product, you must be well-equipped with a wide range of product knowledge and their distinctive features. - Multitasking and prioritization is essential, as retail associates must be able to work with multiple customers at once while addressing store needs.- Communication skills are needed to clearly express information to customers and adequately answer their questions. Ice hockey equipment is very personalized and tailored to individuals, so retail associates need to listen to customers and effectively connect them with the right products and offer guidance.

The 2021 summer undergraduate research experience (SURE) program at the Keck Graduate Institute is a virtual experience featuring various hands-on workshops, analytics and statistical programs, and webinars presented by industry leaders in biotechnology and translational medicine. In addition to my primary track, I participated in a bioentrenpeneurship team project that focused on the repurposing of drug molecules to a new indication. As part of the project, my team evaluated the current preclinical research to determine whether the molecule may be an effective treatment for a new indication. Subsequent to this determination, we conducted a clinical assessment of the molecule, evaluated the potential patient population, and compared the new therapy with the current standard of treatment. A market assessment was then conducted, where we analyzed the potential market size and expected value given our addressable market and competition. This led to our risk assessment and a final recommendation for pursuing drug development. The project culminated in a final presentation to our peers, KGI staff, and a handful of industry experts and professionals.