Chi (Aimee) Zhao, Ph.D. Email & Phone Number

Pleasanton, California, Us

Pleasanton, California, Us

Austin, Texas, Us

Develop automated workflow for ion chromatography and centrifuge experiments:1. Design experiment parameters in the codebase and automatically optimize parameter values based on various experiment setting.2. Interface with instrument software to facilitate efficient method file creation and data export during the experiments.3. Design and streamline experimental procedures to guide lab operators in performing experiments.4. Create qualification tests for instruments and the subsequent result reporting.5. Generate SOP for instrument maintenance.6. QA new functions and procedures prior to their official release.

Austin, Tx, Us

1. Developing cell-derived biomaterials for specific drug delivery- Designed multifunctional transmembrane proteins that target cells on the basis of their surface receptor expression profiles. Further enhanced targeting selectivity by including serial repeats of the targeting ligand domain on the chimeric transmembrane proteins.- Genetically engineered donor cells to stably express multifunctional transmembrane proteins and harvested their plasma membranes as drug delivery vehicles.Cover photo: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.201670136/fullPublication: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.201600493/fullhttps://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.biochem.7b006882. Engineering cell-derived biomaterials for efficient macromolecular delivery directly to the cytoplasm- Genetically engineered donor cells to stably express transmembrane channel proteins, connexin 43, providing macromolecules with a direct passageway into the cytoplasm- Designed and expressed a chimera version of connexin 43 protein with a RNA binding domain taken from virus in order to increase the concentration of siRNA in the cell-derived plasma membrane vesicles to enhance gene silencing- Quantitatively measure the copy number of siRNA in donor cells and cell-derived vesicles using qPCR3. Investigating the impact of receptor heterodimerization on the receptor uptake mechanism by endocytosis- Designed and constructed chimeric transmembrane model receptors in order to establish a simplified model system in live cells for this study- Used quantitative confocal imaging as well as publicly available MATLAB packages to map the distribution of receptors on the plasma membrane of cellsPublication: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006349519305685https://pubs.rsc.org/am/content/articlelanding/2019/sm/c9sm00876d

Houston, Texas, Us

Studied the structure of protein kinases activated by secondary messengers, specifically cyclic-GMP dependent protein kinase- Investigated the binding mechanisms of cGMP-dependent protein kinase to secondarymessengers, which is physiologically important in muscle relaxation and platelet activation- Purified, crystallized, and solved the structures of proteins in the cGMP dependent protein kinasefamily, such as cGMP-dependent protein kinase Iβ cyclic nucleotide binding domain (CNBD) B

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Biomedical Engineering

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Chemistry