Vesper Fraunfelter Email and Phone Number

I am a molecular geneticist driven by a passion for genetics and the betterment of life for everyone. My primary career goal is to perform research aiding in the development of gene therapy treatments. I believe this technology will greatly increase the equity of medicine, allowing for the curing of diseases rather than the treatment of them or their symptoms. Equity and diversity in the sciences and medicine are very important to me, and there are many wonderful things a variety of minds can produce.I have a variety of lab skills from various fields: strain construction, mutation fluctuation assays, DNA extraction, Southern Blots, PCR and primer design, sequence analysis, computational modeling (Schrodinger), multi-step organic synthesis, NMR/IR spectroscopy, and various biochemical and bacterial growth assays. I am also trained in experimental design and have presented my work in both poster/oral formats at forums, symposia, and conferences.Non-lab skills include communication, Microsoft Office / Google Suite, and data analysis.For my undergraduate biochemistry/genetics research, I focused on developing a plasmid for the heterologous expression of P. aeruginosa ATP synthase into E. coli so that more specific ATP synthase inhibitors could be created for the pathogen, potentially bearing antibiotic potential. Throughout the process, I've dealt with plasmid DNA supercoiling affecting restriction enzyme function, silent mutations unexpectedly impacting functional expression, and discovering a necessary gene thought unimportant to function. I also used ATP synthesis/hydrolysis assays and succinate growth assays to confirm functional expression. If you would prefer to talk to me in an informal fashion, please feel free to message me! I always enjoy meeting new people and learning new things.