Celeste Diaz Email & Phone Number

Stanford, CA, US

• Co-advised by Dr. Livnat Jerby and Dr. Jennifer CochranCharacterizing the role of stromal-immune dynamics in ovarian cancer contributing to immunosuppression and chemotherapy resistance
• Developed 2D and 3D in vitro and ex vivo co-culture model systems of High Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma desmoplasia consisting of cell lines, patient-derived cells, and patient-derived organoids.
• Utilized CRISPR immune co-culture screens to probe desmoplastic based immune exclusion, recruitment, and immunosuppression programs to identify novel therapeutic targets to overcome chemotherapy resistance.

Stanford, California, United States

-Received $100K in funding for 2 years and academic/industry mentorship-Project developed from the course "A Practical Approach Drug Discovery and Development" (2022-2023)-Project team developed a concept for a therapeutic for rare mitochondrial disease from discovery to human trials and commercialization over the course of 20+ weeks with the guidance of.

Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Broad Biomedical Post-Baccalaureate Scholar (BBPS)- Research Associate Genome editing and high-throughput single cell technology assay development to study functional human genetic variation
• Contributed to the development of a single-cell optical profiling method used to functionally characterize genetic variants in the field of cancer and other biomedically relevant areas to give insight into therapeutic.
• Led efforts in making single-cell optical profiling method compatible with ORF overexpression detection using a pooled library of 200 alleles of p53 and KRAS and screened for reproducibility across different cellular.
• Performed an in-vivo tumorigenesis assay in mice to determine functional phenotype of interesting alleles of KRAS from Perturb-seq transcriptional profiles of KRAS and p53 genes.
• Construct models of hypomorphic alleles seen in rare variation in cancer using CRISPRi as a genome editing tool.
• Regularly prepared presentations for lab meetings, project meetings for academic and industry collaborators, program meetings, and journal club.

Turlock, CA

• 2015-2018Characterizing angiogenic gene expression changes in response to first-hand cigarette smoke exposure in chick chorioallantoic membranes (CAMs) models
• Ran in-vivo portion and used a variety of molecular techniques to extract RNA from tissue and quantify cDNA expression from different cohorts across genes associated with angiogenesis and tumor propagation.
• Assisted in protocol troubleshooting and experimental planning.
• Helped lead the lab and train new students on wet lab techniques, protocol development, and understanding of the project material.2014-2015Exposure of first, second, and third-hand cigarette smoke effects on hormone.
• Exposed different cohorts of mice to appropriate conditions at varying dosage for 24 weeks.
• Collected and processed blood glucose, plasma insulin, fecal extracted cortisol, and performed open field activity tests throughout the 24 weeks.

Vacaville, California

• Summer 2015, 2016, and 2017Process validation of water filtration and sterilization system components in compliance with GMP manufacturing standards
• Learned and understood dynamics of water for injection systems used in drug manufacturing processes and maintenance procedures.
• Worked as a team to validate that all gaskets, valves, and other components in water systems were accurate in field with piping and instrument diagrams and updated SOPs for yearly maintenance event.
• Saved time and money by creating a permanent numerical system in the field for personalized identification of all gaskets and valves for future maintenance and replacement.
• Presented summer project at Genentech poster session each summer as final project.
• Helped train new interns in summer 2016 and 2017

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Cancer Biology

B.S. Molecular And Microbial Biology, Chemistry Minor, Summa Cum Laude

Activities and Societies: Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), Central Valley Math and.