Skylar-Scott Lab, Department of Bioengineering- Bioprocess development- Stem cell culture for 3D bioprinting

-Developed software and standard operating procedures to enable scientists to remotely design and direct experiments in the cloud lab with greater precision and reproducibility-Expanded ECL’s experimental capabilities by bringing online new instrumentation through programming the software interface, protocol design and development, and instrumentation maintenance-Sourced and vetted laboratory instruments

Advisor: Prof. Sanjay KumarProject: Mechanical regulation of cell shape by actin stress fibers Substrate geometric curvature on stress fiber properties. Examined influence of extracellular matrix substrate curvature and dimensionality on stress fiber mechanics and organization. In collaboration with cardiovascular translational therapeutics lab and chemical engineering lab.

Advisor: Prof. Sanjay Kumar Dissertation: Mechanical regulation of cell shape and front-back polarity by actin stress fiber subtypes• Actomyosin stress fiber mechanics in migrating cells. Examined the mechanical and structural contributions of stress fiber subtypes to cell shape. Developed assay using engineered substrates and laser nanosurgery to reproducibly measure single stress fiber mechanics. Found that stress fiber subtypes have distinct properties which are dependent on networking and formation history.•Cofilin in mechanical cell polarization. Examined how mechanical front-back polarization is established in stress fiber networks. Found that cofilin breaks down low-tension actin subunits to facilitate formation of the high-tension stress fibers needed to break tensional symmetry and establish polarity.• Key contributor to collaborative projects in engineered models of glioblastoma, developmental biology, and computational analysis of cell spreading

Course: Principles of Molecular and Cellular Biophotonics (BIOE 163/263) • Advised 40 students on their written and oral research proposals• Led weekly office hours and graded problem sets • Selected as an Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor at UC Berkeley (awarded to < 10% of GSIs)

• Supervised student employees and managed front desk operations during evenings and weekends• Trained new employees and wrote orientation and training manuals• Opened or closed the library during nights and weekends• Answered patron inquiries about library accounts, and provided check in/out, and hold services

Staffed the front desk at Carnegie Mellon University's main library. Responsibilities included circulation operations and answering patron inquiries.

Advisor: Prof. Ge Yang Project: Axonal transport dynamics in neurodegenerative disease • Applied experimental and computational techniques to track protein transport along Drosophila segmental nerves• Found that cargo transport along nerves is impaired with accumulation of tau neurofibrillary tangles in a Drosophila model of Alzheimer’s disease• Established a quantum dot microinjection procedure to visualize single cells• Presented results at the Meeting of the Minds Research Symposium

Project: Artificial transport system using vesicles and purified cell proteins• Developed and assembled a prototype of a microfluidic transport system consisting of purified microtubules, kinesin, and synthesized biphasic vesicles • Synthesized biphasic lipid vesicles and characterized the selective partitioning of proteins and lipids• Published 1 second author paper and presented a poster at the Summer Intern Research Symposium

• Combined experimental and computational techniques to examine diversity in gene structure and function• Worked with 20 undergraduate students to annotate and analyze a novel bacteriophage genome • Co-authored 1 paper