Levi Brunelle Email & Phone Number

Waterloo, On, Ca

Waterloo, On, Ca

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Monrovia, California, United States

• Built a 3-axis AC electromagnetic stage for a fluorescent microscope to manipulate magnetic nanoparticles for self-assembly in microarray experiments. This involved a complete CAD design, laser-cutting steel components, machining and heat treating magnetic core iron, 3D printing parts in biocompatible materials, hand winding of coils, and wiring of amplifiers to deliver a signal from the function generator to the coils• Utilized the electromagnetic stage to perform sequences of tests varying frequency, field strength, and bias on different axes to manipulate magnetic nanoparticles in several ways, including disaggregation, aggregation, rotation, and translation• Evaluated different gold, gold-thiol, and nitride functionalized surface coatings for silicon microarrays to reduce non-specific binding by bio-enabled magnetic nanoparticles in various chemical environments• Conducted glovebox tagging to create DNA-encoded combinatorial libraries attached to nanoparticle suspensions by means of photocleavable linkers for use with FRET-based cleavage experiments • Optimized loading procedure for gold-coated microarrays using centrifuge drying in custom 3D printed adapters, reducing the process from 12 touchpoints to 5

Pasadena, California, United States

• Assisted with the design and execution of experiments to improve surface chemistry properties on scaled-up production of passivated optical windows• Characterized hundreds of passivated optical windows of various anti-fouling surface chemistries, both internally produced and externally sourced, using fluorescent microscopy and contact angle• Analyzed large image datasets using ImageJ to quantify fluorescent intensity on passivated surfaces• Produced thousands of covalently functionalized passivated optical windows using wet chemistry techniques, according to SOP• Utilized the company’s Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) to document experimental details, results, and conclusions of R&D studies• Executed basic solid phase synthesis, FMOC deprotections and quantifications, as well as DNA click reactions, on magnetic nanoparticle suspensions

Maitland, Ontario, Canada

• Engineered a project to fix the reverse osmosis and multi-media water filtration systems by performing advanced water tests and sample analyses with various filter-aids, trending key performance parameters while making calculated changes to the system, and analyzing trends to determine the most efficient methods of operation and corrective measures for maximum productivity• Worked with outside companies to acquire cheaper and more effective water treatment chemicals, saving the plant an estimated $40,000 a year• Created interactive Excel dashboards to pull and organize live data from plant instruments, as well as to generate predictive equations for optimal performance• Generated specs for new instruments to deliver real-time water analysis and automated system corrections• Compiled an extensive list of all critical plant instruments and their specs, to ensure the correct spares are always on hand• Produced reports for future process improvements

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada