Rebeka Eki Email & Phone Number

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area

Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

• Managed early-stage discovery programs (both internal and external partnership programs) from target identification/validation through assay development, high-throughput screening, and hit expansion.• Responsible for study design and coordination of lab personnel and resources to advance program objectives. • Led bi-weekly project meetings to discuss results and plan experimental logistics and timelines. • Designed, directed, and executed studies to support pre-IND application for preclinical candidate, HST28468, for the treatment of cholestasis and hepatitis D. • Designed in vivo studies with an external CRO to characterize and validate disease models of propionic and methylmalonic acidemia in zebrafish.• Performed in-depth literature reviews and met with KOLs to identify new targets in areas of unmet patient need for potential portfolio entry.

Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

• Led the design, development, and execution of biological assays to support three drug discovery programs. • Spearheaded mechanism of action and in vitro pharmacology studies for the investigational small molecule, HST5040, for the treatment of propionic and methylmalonic acidemias and other undisclosed rare diseases.• Generated and validated in vitro disease models to support indication expansion studies for HST5040. • Oversaw the development of zebrafish disease models by an external CRO to support indication expansion studies for HST5040.• Collaborated with external CROs and internal mass spectrometry specialists to develop RapidFire-MS and LCMS detection methods for disease-relevant biomarkers in propionic and methylmalonic acidemia, and other undisclosed rare diseases. • Developed and validated cell-based and cell-free enzymatic assays to support compound screening and hit expansion for two undisclosed rare disease programs and one partnership program with Amgen (formerly Horizon Therapeutics). • Composed standard operating procedures and protocols.• Analyzed and interpreted data and presented results on a weekly basis to senior leadership.

Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

• Continued research projects initiated during graduate studies while training graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.• Collaborated with several laboratories at UVA and other institutions including Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt to evaluate the role of various genes/proteins in DNA repair. • Contributed research and data for two co-authored publications.

Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

PhD Candidate in the Abbas Lab, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics & Department of Radiation Oncology• Developed and characterized a novel CRISPR-Cas9-based dual fluorescent reporter system for the accurate and efficient measurement of DNA DSB repair outcomes in mammalian cells.• The reporter system is comprised of four unique plasmids, which have been made available on Addgene for purchase by other academic institutions. Addgene ID#: 149372, 149370, 149369, and 149355. • Demonstrated that precise, high-fidelity repair of blunt DSBs is a robust repair outcome that is strictly dependent on members of the canonical branch of the non-homologous end-joining pathway (c-NHEJ), DNA Ligase IV, XRCC4, and XLF. • Identified novel genetic modulators of radiation sensitivity in melanoma by genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screening.• Identified genetic regulators of tumorigenesis via loss-of-function and gain-of-function genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screening in breast epithelial cells.• Generated CRISPR-mediated KO cell lines and mouse models to study the role of candidate tumor suppressors in prostate cancer development.• Studied the role of F-box proteins in the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS)-mediated degradation of cell cycle regulator, cyclin D1.• Published one first-author paper in Nucleic Acids Research and co-authored three other publications.

Olympia, Washington, United States

• Provided project support to laboratory personnel for the organoleptic and chemical composition analysis of oil extracted from 100+ Mentha (mint) varieties for commercial flavor applications.• Performed data acquisition and statistical analysis of mint compound constituent levels detected by GC-MS in order to establish and update internal product specifications.

Lacey, Washington, United States

• Applied molecular biology techniques to study the regulation of hypocotyl gravitropism in Arabidopsis thaliana. • Performed agrobacterium-mediated transformation of A. thaliana to generate PGA1 (Primary Growth Angle 1) complementation mutants to map the locus of the PGA1 gene.

Seattle, Washington, United States

• Performed solvent extraction and fractionation of plant-based materials to identify novel compounds and small molecules for use in health supplements and topical cosmetic formulations. • Reviewed literature and provided condensed reports on plant-derived compounds commonly used in dietary supplements.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Biochemistry And Molecular Genetics

Master Of Science - Ms, Biological And Physical Sciences

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Biology/Biological Sciences, General, 4.0

Minor in Chemistry Class of 2013 Valedictorian