Lead ultra-high throughput screening team using large particle flow cytometry to select for mutagenized fungi expressing heterologous proteins that are encapsulated within hydrogel beads. Implement novel statistical analyses on the accompanying large datasets to better understand mutant population performance and process development changes.Evaluated relationships among cultivation KPI’s of fungal strains between scales (deep well plate to bench top bioreactor) by aggregating multi-year datasets, performing additional experiments, and designing appropriate statistical analyses. Identified and prioritized potential sources of variation that could reduce scalability of the process.Led operational and performance qualification of the BioLector XT for integration into fungal screening and fermentation workflow. Managed a team of four performing ten experiments including several DOE’s. This process required a large amount of coordination with technical experts from the manufacturer for intensive troubleshooting.

Designed and optimized high throughput screening assays for fungal strain selection including both small-scale liquid and solid-state fermentation. Ran cross-functional collaborations where I designed, executed, and analyzed solid-state fermentation experiments at scale, evaluating the impact of different cultivation conditions on KPIs. Managed direct reports within a team and organized bi-weekly knowledge shares (journal clubs) to help the team stay current on literature and emerging technologies. Developed and set up temporary molecular biology facilities, and created a process flow to sequence and validate the identity of fungal cultures (ITS1-ITS2 gene amplicon sequencing).

Designed and implemented two simultaneous microbiome projects manipulating and characterizing the complex microbial communities associated with plants and animals. The research focused on investigating how environmental microbial communities influence the assembly and function of host microbiomes. Performed all wet lab processes including DNA extraction and isolation, Illumina library preparation for Next Gen Sequencing of 16S rRNA and ITS1-ITS2 gene amplicons, and library quality control. I also complimented these community surveys with standard microbiology practices including microbial culture (liquid and streak plate), strain isolation, morphotyping, and sterile technique.Ran bioinformatics pipelines and performed data wrangling, visualization, and analysis of next-generation sequencing (metagenomic data) and targeted metabolomics data in R and Python resulting in one peer-reviewed article and two manuscripts.As lab manager, negotiated maintenance contracts and equipment purchases saving the lab $10,000.

Co-taught a Multivariate Statistics course at the graduate-level using R and R studio. Topics included: generalized linear mixed effects models (including logistic regression), ordination (dimensionality reduction), time series analysis, structural equation modeling, basic Bayesian models, data exploration and visualization, and managing heterogenous data.