Research Experience
Taylor (Visualization of Immune Signaling) Laboratory, 04.2019 – Present
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany
• Studied the biophysics of innate immunity, focusing on MyD88-dependent IL-1 signaling
• Discovered that the Myddosome assembles de novo, sequentially, as well as its IRAK4 regulation
• Created an R/Python pipeline that processed and quantified images—over 100 million datapoints
• Collaborated with soft matter physicists to interrogate the dynamics of assembly
• Learned to prep and image cells on top of a supported lipid bilayer using TIRF microscopy
Independent Freelance Researcher, 04.2018 – 07.2020
Collaborators: Miguel Sierra Hoffman, MD; Rafael J Deliz, MD
• Modeled Laredo, Texas COVID-19 epidemiology for the City Council and its grant applications
• Published hospital case-reports in infectious diseases and respiratory medicine
• Studied the epidemiology of South Texas using primary care health records
• Implemented biostatistics to improve patient care while lowering federal healthcare costs
Schmidl (Synthetic Biology) Laboratory, 02.2016 – 08.2018
Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas
• Designed and led translational medicine research experiments in infectious diseases
• Established evolutionary relationships in phylum Tenericutes using comparative proteomics
• Generated mathematical models of antibiotic resistance for the clinic and biodefense
• Ran clinical diagnostics, including bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility tests
Kalluri (Matrix Biology) Laboratory, 10.2014 – 12.2015
MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
• Focused on the role of kidney and colon fibrosis in cancer using murine models
• Created models of cancer and metastasis, including breast, and prostate cancer metastasis
• Did projects independently, from breeding to histology, slide analysis and molecular testing
• Inspected mice models with unexpected phenotypes for experimental design improvement
Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics and Engineering Research, 01.2014 – 05.2014
Baylor University, and University of Stuttgart, Waco, Texas
• Contributed a method for dusty (complex) plasma model particle tracking using image analysis
• Found that particles fell faster than gravitational expectations after chamber deionization
• Gathered facts for reapplying for GEAR-UP Waco, a US$11.3 million federal grant
Danley (Population Genetics) Laboratory, 08.2012 – 08.2013
Department of Biology, Baylor University, Waco, Texas
• Analyzed melanin coverage in Lake Malawi cichlids for correlation with rapid speciation genetics
Trawick (Drug Discovery) Research Group, 08.2010 – 08.2011
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Baylor University, Waco, Texas
• Tested the viability of small molecule inhibitors for treating Chagas’ disease and tumor invasion
• Validated protease activity using western blots and IC-50 assays
Kebaara (RNA Biology) Laboratory, 08.2009 – 06.2012
Department of Biology, Baylor University, Waco, Texas
• Studied the Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay (NMD) pathway, a self-repair mechanism, in yeast
• Co-discovered how NMD regulates mRNA expression in wild-type yeast with long 3’-UTRs
• Observed copper tolerance in NMD knockouts, linking alternate processing to NMD targeting