Notre Dame Biology Department                                                                                                           

Laboratory Research Assistant                                                                                                      

• Principal Investigator: Jeff Schorey, Ph.D.

• Working to understand the extent to which infection with the M. bovis BCG vaccine strain induces IFN-β production upon macrophage entry in vitro to improve vaccine potency

• Elucidating the roles of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in innate and adaptive immunity following intranasal mice infection with M. bovis BCG

 

Boston College Biology Department                                                                                               

Laboratory Research Assistant                                                                                                 

• Principal Investigator: Ismael Ben Fofana, Ph.D.

• Characterization and analysis of SIV-specific monoclonal antibodies using phage display technology

  • Selecting for SIV-specific monoclonal antibodies

  • Characterizing single chain Fv (scFv) antibodies by ELISA

• Analysis of COVD-19 severity (fatality, viral load, patient demographic information), antibody responses in coronavirus infected patients

  • Measuring IgG, IgA, IgM titers in smokers versus non-smokers and elucidating the effect of smoking on COVID-19 disease progression using ELISA

  • Determining antibody potency and measuring the amount of potent inhibitory antibodies (Neutralizing Antibody Titration using pseudovirus assay and 293T ACE-2 cells)

 

Boston College Biology Department                                                                                                   

Laboratory Teaching Assistant                                                                                                   

• Teaching Assistant for the Advanced Experience Elective Course “Research in Molecular Biology Laboratory”

• Perform projects alongside students to instruct them on various molecular biology techniques

• Organize, prepare, and facilitate experiments in the lab

  • Genetic engineering, PCR primer design, DNA sequencing, cell culture and maintenance (passage, splitting), cell transfection, protein expression, and immunology (ELISA, flowcytometry).

 

Boston College Sociology Department                                                                                           

Research Assistant                                                                                                                

• Principal Investigator: Sara Moorman, Ph.D.

• Working on a project focused on the effects of social networks and relationships on dementia-linked cognitive decline and functioning within populations of the oldest old (75+)

• Completing statical analyses in STATA and attending weekly meetings

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Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai                                                                                       

Summer Research Intern                                                                                                                

• Principal Investigator: Melissa Smith, Ph.D.

• Worked on a project titled “Full Length Repertoire Sequencing of the Rhesus macaque (M. mulatta) Expressed Immunoglobulin G (IgG) VDJ-CH Region”

• Techniques learned: HiFi library construction through SMRTbell Template preparation (PacBio), Qubit Fluorometric Quantitation (Thermo Fisher Scientific), Chip-based electrophoresis to assess quality and size of RNA and DNA (Agilent - Bioanalyzer)

• Using the Rhesus macaque model for HIV infection and pathogenesis

• Understanding antibody responses and IgG repertoire analysis

• Sequencing full-length IgG molecules using a next-generation sequencing platform (PacBio)

  • IgG RNA extraction, cDNA amplification and purification, full length sequencing from PacBio from PBMCs amplification