Recipient of Advanced Placement (AP) Scholar with Honor (2012)
Recipient of Florida Medallion Scholar (2012)
Dean’s list honoree, Polk State College and University of Florida (2014/2016)
Summa Cum Laude, Polk State College (2014)
Cum Laude, University of Florida (2016)
Research Experience
Jan 2022－March 2022 Dr. Eric Wagner: Creating an inducible degron clonal line in H9 stem cells to study transcriptomic changes during differentiation.
Sep 2021－Dec 2021 Dr. Peng Yao: Investigation of potential anti-sense oligonucleotides and CRISPR-Cas9/13 fusion proteins for preventing cardiac hypertrophy.
Jan 2019－Jul 2021 Dr. Vijayendran Chandran: Identified potential biomarkers utilizing a novel frataxin knockdown mouse model and human serum samples via transcriptomic, lipidomic and proteomic analyses. Assisted investigating a small molecule that regulates several genes in regeneration-associated gene network in mice dorsal root ganglions. Assisted in developing and validating an inducible novel mouse model to study CNS/PNS regeneration.
Jan 2017－Jan 2019 Dr. Vijayendran Chandran: Examined potential therapeutics such as chemical modulators and microRNA selected based on computational analyses to analyze the expression of frataxin protein in vitro.
Current Research
My research in the O’Connell group is focused on characterization of mutations of HEPN-like interface of the type VI CRISPR-Cas accessory membrane protein, Csx28, as it relates to antiphage defense. Understanding how central pore of Csx28 functions can determine whether this protein can act as a nanopore or sensitive RNA detection device to be used in clinical and point-of-care settings.
