Nicole Zhao Email & Phone Number

Boston, MA, US

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

• Project types: enzyme improvement, high throughput discovery screening, target molecule expression optimization
• Led development of enzymatic assay enabling screening of 3000 samples to discovery novel natural product inhibitors of spore pathogens
• Designed, optimized, and implemented high throughput automated methods for production, characterization, and QC of circRNA (PCR, in vitro transcription), mammalian high content imaging sample prep, endotoxin assay
• Generate and maintain experiment records, SOPs and use LIMS system for inventory maintenance and data archiving
• Streamlined integration between bench work and data analysis through automated data capture, analytics, and visualization

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

• Laboratory of Dr. Jenny Hoffman
• Project lead to design and fabricate custom experimental setups for modeling twisted bilayer graphene with acoustic metamaterials using electronics, COMSOL multiphysics software, and CAD
• Coordinated with supply vendors, electrical engineers, and collaborating physicists to determine timelines, design feasibility, and material availability for building custom experimental setups

Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, United States

• Laboratory of Dr. James Battat
• Built an automated test set-up using electrical equipment and Python to measure the properties of ~200 custom-designed bandpass filters used to process signals for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Presented.
• Mentored 6 undergrad students and led lab meetings to share lab work and literature review

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Use Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to understand and assess the net environmental impact of laboratory glove recycling. Research used to evaluate the feasibility of expanding MIT’s current glove recycling program, piloted by the Department of Chemical Engineering and MIT Green Labs

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Laboratory of Dr. Roberta Fulthorpe
• Independently designed and executed novel bioassays and tools to isolate, identify and monitor naturally occurring non-model organisms capable of degrading carbamazepine, the most detected pharmaceutical pollutant in.