I am currently working as a senior scientist for Luminary therapeutics in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the head of their autoimmune therapy department. Since I started in August of 2023, we have developed and submitted an IND for Autologous CAR T therapy for the treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. In that time, I have additionally been awarded an R43 SBIR grant, as well as taken a leadership role in the completion of a $2.4 million grant starting in 2023. I completed my Bachelors in Biology at Ball State University before completing my PhD from Vanderbilt University in September of 2019. I completed my Postdoctoral work with the Faubion Lab at Mayo clinic working on the epigenetics of Crohn's disease in 2022.I have developed the skills to both effectively complete scientific research as well as communicate that research to a scientific and general audience.In the Aune lab, I have identified a long noncoding RNA called GATA3-AS1, that is directly implicated in the development and polarization of T-Helper 2 cells. In completing this work, I developed skills in primary human cell culture, analyzing RNA profiles via qPCR and RNA-seq, and designed an immunoprecipitation assay unique to our lab to analyze DNA:RNA hybrid formations in chromatin. All of this work has been published in Frontiers of Immunology and is available for view here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02512/fullI have also developed skills in communicating this research, as I have presented in multiple international meetings including American Association of Immunology meeting in Washington D.C., The symposium on Infection and Immunity in Nashville, TN, and a Keystone Symposia in Tahoe, California.In addition to my research work, I have worked with multiple programs to introduce medical, undergraduate, and high school students to basic biology research through summer internships in our lab. These programs helped students design and carry out an independent research study over the summer, of which I have coordinated 5 students through summer projects. I have additionally taught the laboratory section of medical Microbiology for 1st year medical students at Vanderbilt university over two semesters.