Merel Bot Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

In this role I provide technical guidance to university research laboratories on the Biosafety Program to assure safe and compliant conduct of research involving biological materials and recombinant and synthetic nucleic acids. I advise on practices and procedures to ensure compliance with applicable local, state, and federal regulations. Part of this is surveying laboratory spaces for appropriate safety measures, provide guidance on safety equipment, and provide outreach and education on biosafety topics. I also conduct risk assessments and technical review of Biological Use Authorizations for the use of various types of biological materials, including recombinant DNA, infectious agents, human gene transfer, animal work, and human tissues and cells. Additionally I investigate incidents involving exposure to biological materials and loss of containment, prepare incident reports and corrective action recommendations and respond to safety emergencies and advise on proper response to emergencies involving potential biohazard risks.

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

As the lab manager of the lab of Roel Ophoff I participate in research that focusses on the molecular basis of neuropsychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Besides being part of the research and setting up experiments in the lab, I am also responsible to maintain worker and environmental safety and regulatory compliance for the lab. I supervise and provide training for all members working in the lab, training them on both new techniques as well as teaching/coming up with mitigation strategies and working according to campus policies and safety regulations. Furthermore I provide basic assistance to all lab related issues like ordering, shipping and organizing.Skills Used Cell culture work on different cell lines, including primary fibroblasts from patients, a variety of molecular techniques for transcriptomic analysis including RNA/DNA isolation, ATAC sequencing and RNA sequencing, in vivo circadian rhythm analysis, management and training, understanding and implementing EH&S rules and regulations, ordering/shipping.

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

As a lead scientist on the Wastewater Surveillance team at UCLA I oversee the monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater from the UCLA undergraduate housing. The effort is run out of the Ophoff lab, which includes sampling the wastewater, processing for viral RNA concentration and extraction and running quantification analysis using RT-qPCR. Findings are communicated to the UCLA Exposure Management team, in an effort to keep our community safe.Being a Center of Excellence site for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance allows us to ramp up this effort, with plans to expand to surrounding areas in the future.

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

As an assistant project scientist in the lab of Roel Ophoff I participate in research that focusses on the molecular basis of neuropsychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The main project I work on is to study regulatory variants in fibroblasts from patients with bipolar disorder and healthy controls, using RNAseq and ATACseq.Skills Used Cell culture work on different cell lines, including primary fibroblasts from patients, a variety of molecular techniques for transcriptomic analysis including RNA/DNA isolation, ATAC sequencing, RNA sequencing, RT-PCR, qPCR and microarray techniques.

Utrecht, Netherlands, Nl

As an fMRI research assistant at the department of neurology and neurosurgery and the department of psychiatry of the UMC Utrecht I plan, perform and analyze fMRI scans of both patients and research subjects.

Instructor group fitness at VU Sports Centre

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

Responsibilities Worked on identifying targets of a microRNA of interest across neuronal development, using a human neural stem cell model and transcriptomic analysis. Skills Used Cell culture work on hNPCs, lentiviral transduction of hNPCs, transcriptomic analysis including RNA isolation, RT-PCR, qPCR and microarray techniques and data analysisMinor Research Project, Master Neuroscience&CognitionLab of Dr. Roel Ophoff, professor of Psychiatry and Human Genetics.Center for Neurobehavioral GeneticsHuman Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA.

Haarlem, Nl

Utrecht, Utrecht, Nl

Responsibilities Investigated the role of a certain molecular motor during neuronal development, using primary hippocampal neurons, imaging and other experimental procedures. Skills Used Cell culture work on primary hippocampal neurons, transfection, immunohistochemistry, widefield/confocal imaging, SDS-PAGE and other experimental procedures.Major Research Project, Master Neuroscience&Cognition

Amsterdam, Nl

Responsibilities Worked on the fine-mapping of deletion breakpoints in DNA from patients with a certain autism-like syndrome. Skills Used Designed primers and performed PCR reactions on patient DNA, product purification after gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing analysis

Amsterdam, North Holland, Nl

Master Of Science (Msc), Neuroscience

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc), Biomedical Sciences