Thomas Cross Email & Phone Number

While finishing my associates degrees, I worked as both a water quality technician and sales associate at a flotation therapy center, marrying my passion for chemistry and client-facing interactions. Quickly advancing to a general manager position, I realized the importance of having a strong work ethic and a cohesive team building environment.At UC Irvine, I first discovered my interest in chemical biology, joining Prof. Rachel Martin’s lab in March 2020. I was struck by the relevance and importance of chemistry and biology in people’s everyday lives. Two days after joining the lab, COVID-19 forced closures of all on-campus activity. In a Zoom meeting the next day, I started work on a project to identify mutations to the SARS-CoV-2 main protease. This enzyme acts as a pair of protein scissors, making it crucial for viral replication and a high profile target for COVID post-exposure treatment.From home, I began to collect genomic sequencing data, and I quickly realized that it would be impossible to continue without computational methods. So I taught myself to script in Python to sift through the thousands of new viral sequences coming in daily during the pandemic, and to call and annotate novel mutations that were found in these large datasets. In a testament to the importance and relevance of my work, our group, in close collaboration with Prof. Carter Butts’s lab, published in ACS Biochemistry in September 2020, where I was listed as the first author. Additional work that I performed on this project resulted in another publication in Biochemistry in 2023.When I joined UCLA as a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry in fall 2021, I received two fellowships to further my studies in theoretical and computational chemistry. I have worked on a range of different projects, from modeling simulations of enzymes that confer bacterial resistance, to generating a machine learning model for proteins found in neurodegenerative disorders. In March 2023, I made the decision to graduate with my Master’s in Chemistry to make the transition to industry. I am interested in applying my computational and analytical skills in a role where I can quickly make an impact in customer-facing roles. As a highly driven professional, I plan to continue my dedication to advancing the health sciences industry through the power of data.